Apt 212
by Scriptress
Summary: May has made the decision to move into an apartment in the city. Will she be able to cope with living on her own, and more importantly, deal with her new neighbor? Contestshipping. Minor Oldrivalshipping. CS. ORS.
1. Chapter 1

**I am back and better than ever with a brand new, and for the first time in history, MUTLI-CHAPTERED story. Stay tuned, guys. This is going to be fun.**

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"There!" May said as she hung up one last painting on the wall.

She stood back and placed her hands on her hips, proud of her accomplishment. She'd spent a good portion of the day decorating her new apartment and was pleased with the result.

Suddenly, she frowned, scrutinizing the position of the painting.

She took a step forward and adjusted it slightly to the left.

"There!" she said again, smiling and taking another step back to admire her work.

She used the back of her hand to wipe her forehead in order to signify the end of a job well done, although she had not been sweating.

She turned around and took in the atmosphere of her living room, glancing at all four walls.

"It's finally finished," May said to no one in particular.

She sat down at the circular wooden table she'd placed near the kitchen, and repositioned the petals on the centerpiece. She'd chosen a flowerpot with daisies in it to add to the atmosphere she created.

The keys to the apartment had just been given to her that morning, and she'd been eager to decorate the blank canvas of the walls with her essence.

She'd hung white curtains from the windows, allowing for the natural lighting to peak through. The door to her balcony was opened, welcoming the fresh spring air. Pillows on the couch added for splashes of color, which were accentuated in the paintings on the wall.

Her first apartment was everything she dreamed it would be. She'd also gotten it for such a reasonable price that she was able to afford it without any roommates. Besides, her best friend wasn't quite ready to accompany her to the big city anyway.

She sighed contentedly and sat back in her chair. "Guess this means I'm all grown up now." The realization hit her like a train. "Oh my god, I'm all grown up now."

Her phone buzzed, bringing her out of her trance. She was excited to see who was calling her.

"May!"

She almost squealed from the pure excitement she felt.

"Leaf!" she said. "I'm all moved in!"

"That's great!" Leaf replied.

"I know!"

"Do you like it?"

May looked at the four walls of the living room in search of her answer. "I love it."

"That's great!"

"I know!"

The girls laughed at the repetition.

"So when can I come visit?" Leaf asked.

May waved her hand in front of her dismissively, although her friend couldn't see it.

"Anytime," she said. "Whenever."

"Perfect."

May walked down the hallway to the right and opened the door to her room. Her bed was covered with a white comforter and piled with pillows.

"What's your favorite thing about the place?" Leaf quizzed.

"Um," May said, flopping onto her bed. "The balcony's pretty cool."

"You have a balcony?"

"Yep!" May confirmed. "It's pre-tty coool."

Leaf giggled, causing her friend to smile.

"Have you met anyone yet?" Leaf asked.

"Nope. Not at all," May responded. "I've been inside all day."

"Well, go socialize!"

May sat up on her bed. "Okay, okay."

"Let me know if you meet anyone cool."

"You'll be the first to know."

The two girls said their goodbyes and May put the phone in her pocket. Leaf was right; she should go outside and check out the neighborhood.

"I might as well jog," May said quietly to herself as she tried to remember where she stowed her work out attire.

Once she donned the sweatpants and running shoes, she grabbed her keychain and paused at the door to marvel in the beauty of her new home. Then, she opened her front door and stepped out into the hallway.

May put her key in the lock and turned it, and looked instinctively to her right.

She was met with green, dragon-like eyes so stunning that she felt herself freeze immediately. It was a guy. Her neighbor apparently. He was also putting the key into his lock.

She was captivated by his green hair when she realized she'd been staring and that he'd been staring back at her.

She pushed her hair behind her ears and turned around immediately in the direction of the stairs. How embarrassing. She'd never felt so absolutely paralyzed in her entire life—

"Hey."

That must have been his voice.

May turned back around to face his startling green eyes and was more careful not to melt immediately.

She looked down at his lips and realized he was saying something to her. Maybe some kind of introduction? Maybe his name?

"You left your keys in the door."

May suffered a moment of extreme confusion before glancing at her door and seeing her keychain dangling from the lock.

Her face heated immediately in utter embarrassment as she took the shameful steps to retrieve her keys.

Despite her inner protests, she stole another glance at him to see that he was smirking. He promptly jerked open his door without breaking eye contact, the smirk still plastered on his face, and shut it behind him.

How did she manage to embarrass herself that severely within two minutes of leaving her apartment?

She was kicking herself and wishing for a time machine as she descended the staircase and arrived in the lobby of her building.

He doesn't matter, she told herself.

He's just some guy.

She pushed on the glass door of the building and walked outside into the fresh spring afternoon.

Just some guy with green eyes.

Who lived right next to her and would probably run into her more than once.

She refrained from bringing her palm to her forehead and jogged down the steps of the building to begin her exercise.

May analyzed her surroundings in order to distract herself from what had just occurred. There were many families with strollers, which signified a rather safe neighborhood. She also passed by fruit stands and food carts, which were very characteristic of the city.

She made an effort to remember landmarks and the names of streets, so that she would be able to get home.

Still, her mind kept traveling to that guy in the hallway. Why was his hair green? Did he dye it? Why did their chance meeting have such an effect on her? She'd met multiple people in her life, and she'd never frozen on the spot for any of them.

She jogged in place as she waited for the crosswalk.

May just hoped she didn't see him again.

She crossed the street.

She'd live a very happy life if she didn't.

After about half an hour, May returned to her apartment building, regretting the fact that she'd forgotten a water bottle. She used her key to enter the building and proceeded to climb up the steps to the second floor.

She dreaded running into anyone in the hallway in her current state, especially someone with green hair.

Luckily, she didn't, and she quickly unlocked her door and closed it behind her.

May pressed her back against her front door and slid to the floor. She took a couple of deep breaths before standing up and grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.

After a stop in the bathroom to rinse off her face, she flopped on her bed the way she did before.

Her phone buzzed again and she answered it without checking the caller ID.

"Hello," said the exhausted brunette.

"Hey," came Leaf's voice. "Oh, are you okay?"

"Yeah," May said breathily. "I was just—"

"Oh, you were jogging."

"Yeah."

May sipped on her water as she listened to her friend speak.

"So how'd the mission go?"

"To socialize?"

"Yeah."

"I didn't do that."

May sat up in an effort to prepare for a lecture from her best friend.

"May! You didn't meet _anyone_?"

"Oh. I mean," she said, remembering what she wanted so deeply to forget. "I met my neighbor. Kind of."

"Oh, was she nice?"

"It was a guy."

Leaf paused briefly. "Ooooh," she cooed flirtatiously.

"Please, don't."

"Was he cute?"

May thought for a second. "I guess—"

"You don't know? Didn't you meet him?"

"I don't know," May admitted. "I didn't really look at his face."

Leaf paused again, possibly misreading May's words. " _Oh._ "

"Leaf, please stop."

"Well, please continue," her friend said.

May sighed and placed her hand on her head. "He just— he had these really green eyes."

"Okay."

"They were so pretty I kind of froze for a second."

Leaf took in what her friend told her. "You froze?"

"Yeah, I physically froze."

"Did he say anything?"

The sentence _You left your keys in the door_ rang in May's ears.

"Not really," she said.

"What—"

"And… then I went jogging," May concluded.

She stared at her curtains as they reflected the light of the evening. The setting sun colored her room gold.

She could hear Leaf sigh at her anticlimactic story. "Well, next time I want a name."

May deeply wished there wasn't a next time. "Okay."

"Goodbye, May," Leaf sang before the line went dead.

The brunette closed the phone and placed it beside her on the bed before walking down the hallway in order to reach her bathroom.

She turned on the light in her bathroom and began peeling off the layers of sticky clothing she had on.

The hot water against her skin felt therapeutic after the day she'd had and she closed her eyes to cherish the feeling.

Suddenly, something felt wrong, and she looked down to see the water pooling around her feet in her bathtub.

Great, she thought as she looked up to her ceiling in annoyance.

She froze for the second time that day, the hot water against her bare back.

A spider. There was a spider on her ceiling.

She didn't want to kill it, so without taking her eyes off of it, she slowly attempted to open the window in her shower wall, only to find that it was rusted shut.

Completely frustrated, she slowly turned off the water instead.

Staring at the spider, she thought of another solution.

The balcony.

Carefully stepping out of the shower and without taking her eyes off of the intruder, she reached for a towel and wrapped it around her body.

She blindly grabbed at her sink in an attempt to grab a roll of paper towels, knocking soaps off of the vanity in the process.

She slowly ripped off a large piece of paper towel and held the ends together to form a scoop. Bravely, she scooped the spider off of the ceiling, resisting the urge to scream.

As fast as she could, she speed-walked into the living room and opened the door to her balcony and let the paper towel go over the edge of the railing. She watched it fall onto the street below and turned to retreat back into her living room to celebrate her victory when she was met with stunning green eyes.

There was her neighbor. Less than a stone's throw away on the balcony to _his_ apartment, a beer paused at his lips as he stared at her.

There she was, standing on her balcony in broad daylight in nothing but a towel.

May imagined every ounce of blood in her body rushing to her face. She clutched at her white towel in sheer embarrassment.

"There was a spider," she explained weakly. "In my bathroom."

As if that fully explained the situation at all. He just watched his practically naked brand-new neighbor open her balcony door to toss a paper towel over the railing.

He lowered the beer bottle, a smirk spreading on his lips.

"Did you get it?" he asked her.

She felt the cold of the outside air against her skin, as water from her dripping-wet hair trailed down her back.

"Yeah," she said.

He nodded, clearly amused, and brought the beer back to his lips.

She turned on her heel and quickly shut the door behind her, and covered her face with her hands.

Maybe she wasn't ready for the city after all.

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 **I liked it. I liked it a lot. I'm so excited to work on this. I already have vague plans for future chapters.**

 **Let me know what you thought of it! Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey! It's been a while since I updated this. I've been plotting future chapters. But I decided I need to get this out of the way. Enjoy!**

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About three days had gone by without an incident with her neighbor or with a spider.

Needless to say, May was very pleased.

She hadn't run into him in the halls. She never saw him outside of the building. She wanted nothing to do with him. And that is what she got.

That morning, she opened the window in her bedroom and welcomed the fresh spring air like it was an old friend.

"Ah!" she sighed for effect, smiling and stretching her arms.

What a beautiful day.

There was only one thing that could make this day better.

Pancakes.

In an oversized shirt, May made her way to the kitchen, the floors fairly cold against her bare feet. She got on her tip toes to reach the cabinet that housed her largest mixing bowl.

May hummed as she mixed the pancake batter and portioned some of it into a pan. She let the pan sit on the fire of the stove and leaned against the counter, allowing her mind to wander.

She had yet to meet anyone that warranted a phone call to Leaf. Or anyone at all really. It seemed that her awful neighbor was the only other person on her floor that was close to her in age.

How would she possibly meet someone else?

Then, it hit her.

A job!

She needed one, anyway. She decided that she would start sending out applications as soon as she could.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

The sound immediately brought her back to the present. She checked her phone, but there were no missed notifications.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

She smelled smoke, and whipped around to look at the stove.

Her pancake! How long had she been daydreaming?

May quickly grabbed a spatula and attempted to scrape the darkened batter off of the pan. She realized she'd also forgotten to butter the pan before pouring the batter onto it.

How could she have forgotten something so crucial?

In an act of frustration, she removed the smoking pan from the stove and left the kitchen entirely.

She opened her balcony door to rid her apartment of the smoke as well as to escape from the noise.

May rested her arms on the railing in front of her and sulked. Breakfast was ruined. So was her beautiful day. She sighed. And now she had to clean up her kitchen.

Suddenly, she felt as if she were being watched, and she looked slowly to her right.

There he was, almost exactly like last time. Her green neighbor, holding a cup off coffee, a smirk plastered on his face.

But this time, he wasn't alone. A guy with spiky brown hair was leaning on the railing next to him, his coffee cup held firmly in his hand and extending past the safety of the balcony.

May stood up straight and clenched her jaw.

"Why are you always out here?" she accused her neighbor.

He looked amused and confused. His friend just looked confused.

"What?" he asked, almost chuckling.

"You're always out here," May said again, crossing her arms over her chest.

"This is my balcony."

She threw up her hands in frustration. "You can at least warn me when you'll be out here!"

He scoffed. "How— Why would I do that?"

May stared at him, then went back to sulking over the railing.

"To prevent things like this from happening."

The beeping of the smoke detector was suddenly very audible.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

May made no effort to move, as the sound only reminded her of her failed attempt at breakfast.

"Do you smell that—" came an unfamiliar voice. It must have been the guy with the spiky hair.

"Is something burning?" her neighbor asked.

"Yeah," agreed the guy beside him. "Is something burning?"

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

"Yeah," May admitted softly.

The silence from the two boys was almost tangible.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

"…Are you going to get that?" said the green one.

 _Beep!_

"Yeah," May said.

She still didn't move.

"Wow," the brown-haired one said.

"I told you."

Her neighbor's response fueled her fire. What did that even mean? Did he tell his friend that she was crazy enough to burn her own apartment down at ten in the morning?

She lifted herself off of the railing and turned around without giving them the satisfaction of eye contact, but left her balcony door open to rid her apartment of the smoke.

She attempted to scrape off the pan, but the voices of the two guys outside her apartment broke her concentration.

"You were so right."

"I know."

She left the pan in the sink and changed into leggings and her running shoes. May felt the need to jog in order to take her mind off of her rough morning.

She'd successfully entered the hallway without seeing her neighbor, and grasped her keys tightly in her fist as she descended the stairs to the lobby.

It was then that she realized she hadn't checked her mail since she moved in.

Oops.

She was able to find the collection of mailboxes for the apartments in the building, and her eyes skimmed across the numbers until she found her own.

208\. 210. 212.

May inserted her key and grabbed a handful of mail. She cycled through the mail in her hands as she made her way back to the staircase.

Upon reaching the last letter, she froze in her tracks.

 _To:_

 _Drew Hayden_

 _17 Fourth St._

 _Apt 214_

This wasn't her mail. And wouldn't Apt 214 be the one next to hers? Wait—

Oh my god.

No. Please.

She whipped around to the mail room and brought her hand to her forehead in absolute panic. There was no way to place this letter in his mailbox without his mail key.

She briefly debated breaking into his apartment to steal his key before realizing how ridiculous that sounded.

She brought her hand to her mouth in horror as she reread the address on the letter in her hands.

 _Drew Hayden_.

That must be his name. Something she could have gone without knowing. She suddenly wanted to pummel the person who sorted the mail into a pulp. They had no idea what they had just done.

She started to climb the staircase, her heart pounding. She couldn't just keep it, either. It could be important.

Once on her floor, she read the number on the door of the apartment to the left, just in case. 210.

Nope. 214 was definitely the apartment to the right.

May stood in front of her neighbor's door for what felt like hours. She just couldn't bring herself to knock.

She bent down and tried to slip the mail under the door, to no avail.

Great, she thought. I have no choice.

She slowly raised a fist and paused briefly before knocking.

Her heart was threatening to break free of her rib cage. Her breath was caught in her throat as she waited for the door to open. She prayed that the brown-haired friend would open the door instead.

In a matter of seconds, the door opened. And she couldn't believe how quickly the brown-haired friend had let her down.

Piercing, playful green eyes captivated her. It felt as if he were standing abnormally close to her. He was taller than she was, and he rested an arm against the door frame.

"Hey, neighbor," he said, his voice audible silk.

"Hi," May said firmly, breaking any sort of attraction she'd had to him. She stood up tall and confirmed that he was indeed towering over her. "This is yours."

She held the piece of mail up between their faces and watched as his eyes disconnected from hers and acknowledged the envelope. May knew he was smirking, although the paper was blocking his lips.

"That's a weird way to introduce yourself," he said, slipping the letter from her fingers.

May furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

"Stealing my mail just to say hi."

Her cheeks burned immediately. "I didn't steal your mail."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Did you intercept the mailman?"

May crossed her arms and clenched her jaw. She said nothing.

Drew leaned further on his doorframe. "Do you work out every day?"

She looked at him in the eyes for a split second, then looked down the hall in annoyance. "No."

"Oh. Because I've rarely seen you in anything other than work out clothes." Slight pause. "Or a towel."

The heat in May's cheeks burned even stronger, and she ran her hands through her hair in frustration. She didn't need to stand here anymore. She gave him his mail. She could leave right now. And never talk to him again.

She looked back into his eyes and saw absolute amusement. He loved seeing her blush. It was hilarious to him.

"Will I ever see you in normal clothes?" he asked.

"No," May said, walking away angrily.

"Oh, so just towels then."

Her heart skidded to halt in her chest, and her footsteps faltered slightly, but she continued making her way to the steps. She wanted to explode but couldn't give him the satisfaction.

May made it halfway down the steps before she realized that she was still holding a giant bundle of her accumulated mail. She made her way back up the staircase to return to her apartment.

She fumed when she saw Drew was still standing in his doorway, entirely unchanged, as he waited for her inevitable return. The smirk on his lips revealed to her that he was going to point out the mail in her hands, but decided to let her figure it out on her own.

She angrily inserted her key into her lock and listened as he chuckled and closed his door beside her.

Once inside, she slammed the mail on the counter and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. She couldn't stand him. Why his one mission in life to pester her?

May quickly left her apartment, knowing she had to leave the building before she knocked on his door again to give him a piece of her mind.

After her jog, she felt her anger dissipate. She had even figured out how to beat him.

All she had to do…

Was…

Completely avoid him for the rest of her life!

Of course, this was already her plan. But this time she had to mean it. No more talking to him. If she got into a conversation with him, he would instantly have the upper hand. He wouldn't have the upper hand if they never talked.

She knew his name, but he didn't know hers. That was a start.

As of right now, she would no longer care about anything regarding this "Drew Hayden." Who cares? Not her. She didn't care at all.

She reached the top of the steps, when the lock to Apartment 214 rattled from the inside. Someone was leaving.

This was her chance to prove to herself that she could beat him.

She inserted her keys into her lock, radiating confidence as she waited for her foe to arrive into the hallway.

His front door opened, and May came face to face with a woman.

A beautiful, blonde woman.

She smiled sweetly at May, and May smiled back, although she felt her heart crashing into her lungs. Why? She wasn't sure.

"Hi," the woman said.

"Hi," May said back.

The brunette averted her eyes, then opened the door to her apartment.

She turned the lock and went to her room to prevent from hearing Drew's voice in the hallway.

For some reason, she began reminding herself that she didn't care.

She didn't care about him.

Or his girlfriend.

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 **Okay, this chapter and the last one had many similarities but I needed to use this filler in order to put things in place/prepare for the next chapter. I am SO excited for chapter 3. It's going to be pretty cute.**

 **Stay tuned!**

 **Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 is here! I'm still figuring out what Chapter 4 is going to be. But this one is a treat, so please enjoy!**

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Even in her bedroom, there was no escape from the silky voice of her neighbor as he stood in the hallway.

"Are you coming back?"

The woman giggled. "Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"We'll see," she replied, playfully. There was a slight pause before she said it again. "We'll see!"

May assumed that Drew had done something to cause her to say it again. The brunette clutched a pillow close to her chest and closed her eyes, upset at the fact that she was unable to escape from their conversation.

"I'll keep in touch!" the woman called dismissively.

May could hear her retreating footsteps as she travelled down the stairs.

Suddenly, the building was quiet again, and May felt more alone than ever.

She rolled onto her side, her pillow still in her arms, and listened as the door to apartment 214 closed shut.

She reached for her phone and dialed Leaf's number, but her friend didn't pick up.

"This is _horrible_ ," May said, tossing her phone down beside her. "I feel horrible."

She stared at her window and realized that the day was still young. There was still time to turn it around.

It was then that she remembered that she still needed a job.

"There are probably a million places that want to hire me," May said. She sat at her desk and logged into her laptop. "I would definitely hire me."

May pulled up the document with her resume. "All they have to do is meet me—" Update address. Ten copies. "—and they won't be able—" Print. "—to resist."

As the papers were printing, she left her bedroom and walked to her bathroom. And a shower wouldn't hurt, either.

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"I'm a pretty decent person," May said to her only companion at the moment.

The sun had begun to dip in the sky and the day had become a lull. She was seated on a park bench in front of a lake in the city, about eight blocks from her apartment.

"I'm reliable," she continued. "I'm friendly. I'm trustworthy."

Her conversational partner said nothing.

May looked at the stack of resumes in her hand, the corners of the pages lifting slightly with the wind. "But no one wants to hire me."

Her new friend quacked, and she looked back at the duck standing before her.

"And Leaf won't pick up her phone!" the brunette said loudly. The duck ruffled its feathers at the sudden increase in volume. May rested her head in one of her hands, sulking. "I wonder what she's doing."

The duck waddled a bit to the left before sitting down.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked it. "Moving to the city has been nothing but disaster after disaster." She sighed. "I don't even have any friends."

The duck quacked and flapped its wings slightly.

"You're right," May said. "I'm being overly dramatic."

She sighed again.

"I can't believe I'm talking to a duck." She paused slightly. "No, I'm sorry. I take that back. You've been nothing but nice to me."

She sat up straight, and the duck looked at her to process her sudden movement. She stuffed her stack of resumes into her purse.

"You're such a good listener. I wish I had some bread to give you." She scanned the area briefly and spotted a small supermarket. "If I go get some bread, will you wait here for me?"

The duck, of course, said nothing.

"Okay, I'll be back," she promised, stepping carefully around the duck and walking in the direction of the market.

She must have looked positively insane to anyone who noticed her sitting in the park, but she absolutely needed to get some things off of her chest. Her day was such an utter disappointment that she needed a verbal catharsis.

May waited for the crosswalk and crossed the street, clutching her purse.

She opened the door to the small market and was instantly greeted by the person behind the counter. She smiled back and weaved through the aisles in an attempt to find bread.

May scanned the bread options and wondered which her little friend would prefer. Italian? Potato? Whole wheat? She decided that it probably didn't matter and grabbed the least expensive loaf.

Once again at the front of the market, she stood in line and waited for her turn to make a purchase.

At that moment, the glass door to the shop opened and in stepped someone she did not wish to see.

"Oh!" the woman said. "It's you!"

May immediately recognized the blonde woman she met in the hallway earlier that day. Although she promised herself she did not care, she felt her mood dampen.

"Yeah!" May said, confirming that it was indeed her. "Hi."'

The woman moved out of the entrance of the door slightly in an effort to let someone else in the store. She ended up standing closer to May.

"I think we were almost neighbors," the blonde said, laughing. Her smile was incredible. It was no wonder what Drew saw in her.

"Us?" May asked.

The woman's face lit up. "Yeah!"

"Oh," the brunette said. "You almost moved in."

She nodded and ran her hand through her hair.

May took a step closer to the counter, as a person had just completed their transaction. "But you're not going to?"

The woman shook her head as if what May had asked was the most ridiculous thing in the world. "Oh, no no."

May furrowed her eyebrows. "Do you mind me asking why not?"

"Oh, it just wasn't the right time for me."

The brunette nodded, trying to understand. "But it was the right time for Drew?"

"Oh, yeah," the blonde said. "He's been ready for months."

May's heart ached slightly, and she reminded herself that his green eyes were not that special. "To move in together."

The woman suddenly looked taken aback. "What?"

"What?" May immediately responded.

A slight awkward silence overtook the two women before the man at the counter announced that he was ready for the next customer.

"Oh, that's me!" May said, thankful for her place in line.

"Okay! I'll let you get to it." The woman smiled. "My name's Daisy, by the way."

"May," May said. "Nice to meet you."

Daisy waved slightly before perusing the aisles and May placed her bread on the counter.

"Just the bread?" the man asked.

May began digging in her purse in search for her wallet. "Yeah, it's for a friend."

"Your friend sent you here just to buy bread?"

May eyes immediately flicked up to the cashier, her hand frozen in her purse. She couldn't believe she said that out loud.

The brunette coolly retrieved her wallet and took out enough money to cover the bill.

"Yeah, we're making um—" she suddenly couldn't remember a single bread-based dish besides toast. "Sandwiches. Just sandwiches."

The cashier put the bread in a plastic bag and took the bill from her hand. He pushed buttons on the screen in front of him and the register popped open.

"What kind of sandwiches?" he asked.

May adjusted her purse on her shoulder awkwardly and waited for the guy to give her her change. "You know, just regular sandwiches."

The cashier glanced at May for a very long three seconds before closing the register and handing her the items she was waiting for.

"Enjoy your regular sandwiches," he said.

A very red-faced May uttered a quick thank you before leaving the store and vowing to never return.

After returning to the park, May found the bench she sat on for the better part of an hour only to find that her friend had left. The sun was setting in the sky and the world was growing dark. She took out a slice of bread and left it on the bench before slowly returning home.

Once in her apartment, she collapsed on her couch and listened to the cars as their engines revved on the streets below her. The daisies in the flowerpot on her table had begun to wilt.

Me too, daisies, she thought.

Her apartment suddenly seemed quiet, so she called Leaf. No answer.

Feeling totally distraught, May peeled herself off of the couch and trudged towards the balcony. She found herself being alone, even out here, where there was always unexpected company.

She leaned on her balcony, her purse still on her shoulder, gazing out into the landscape. Brightly lit streets were interwoven with the buildings of varying heights in front of her. The red taillights of the cars below added a splash of color to the view she absolutely adored. A slight breeze ruffled her hair as she appreciated the orchestra of honking cars playing below.

The door to the balcony next to hers opened, but she did not turn her head to look, as she already knew who it was.

"Hey," came the voice she couldn't seem to escape.

She didn't reply. She wasn't supposed to talk to him.

"You seem down in the dumps," he said.

After a few moments of silence, she looked over at him and discovered that his eyes were piercing even in the darkness.

Something inside of her told her not to be stubborn. All day, she had longed for someone to talk to, and here was the perfect opportunity.

"I am," she admitted.

He leaned onto his railing with his forearms. "I can tell."

She clenched her jaw as she braced herself for entering enemy territory. She already took part in the conversation. It was too late to turn back.

"The person I would normally talk to isn't answering," May said.

"Well, you can tell me," Drew replied. "I'd probably hear it anyway."

Wait.

May's heart almost stopped. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "It's just that the walls are really thin."

Oh my god.

"I think our bedrooms share a wall, actually," he continued.

May's mind automatically shuffled through every conversation she'd had with Leaf since she moved in. Had he heard them?

"What have you heard?" May asked. She wanted to sound confident, but she probably sounded horrified.

"Oh, not much."

She felt herself immediately relax. She'd already had her fill of embarrassment for the day.

"I hear you singing sometimes," Drew said casually.

She covered her face with her hand. Oh my god. This wasn't happening. _This_ is why she vowed never to talk to him!

"Earlier I heard you say that something was horrible, so I was like 'Yikes, I better talk to her about that later.'"

May adjusted her hand to cover only her mouth. He had on a smug expression. He had the advantage. Again.

"So you're saying you can hear everything," she clarified.

His stupid smirk widened, but he said nothing.

May reached for a paper in her purse and crumpled it up before throwing at him in frustration.

He held an arm up in confusion as he watched the paper ball bounce off of him and hit the balcony floor.

"What was that for?" he asked.

She crossed her arms in annoyance. "For listening to my conversations!"

It seemed like he was trying not to laugh. "I can't help it."

May was fuming. "Well, if you can hear _absolutely everything,_ then where do you go for privacy?"

"Out here, usually."

Her fuse was suddenly put out. It had never occurred to her that she was intruding on _his_ space, rather than it being the other way around.

"Oh," she said softly.

She turned her attention from him to the city before them. No wonder he was always out here.

"So, before we talk about your day," Drew said. "I should probably know a little bit about you. Like your name, or something like that."

She looked back at him, and his face looked entirely innocent. May knew he was trying to coax it out of her with politeness, but she wasn't going to give in. This was the only advantage she had over him.

"We can talk without you knowing my name," she said.

He stared at her, a smirk slowly spreading across his lips. He was loving something about this conversation, but she couldn't exactly figure out what it was.

"You're not going to tell me?" he asked, his voice low and silky.

May felt her resolve shake a little. "No."

He shrugged again. "Alright." He looked down at the street below before speaking again.

"Oh!" he said, feigning surprise. "What's this?"

May glanced down at his feet and realized her mistake.

"A paper ball?" he asked, looking up at her with those green eyes. "Something that could have your name on it?"

She watched helplessly as he picked up the paper and examined it between his fingers.

He dragged his next word out excruciatingly slowly. "Maple."

May wanted so desperately to grab the paper back from him, but he was out of reach. "That's not—"

"Is this a resume?"

"Yeah," May admitted softly.

She said no more on the subject, and Drew didn't ask.

"Hey," he said, softly.

She looked over at him and watched as the night breeze tousled his hair.

"If I threw a party," he said, "would you go?"

May stared at him in disbelief. Moments ago, he didn't even know her name. Earlier today, she made a vow to never speak to him again, and it was already broken.

And who was Daisy? How did she know him?

"Meaning," he continued. "I'm throwing a party. And I want to see you there."

May shifted her stance. "What if I don't go?"

"I think you'll be there." He grinned and looked out into the city. "You know where I live."

 _Ring._

Drew tapped his back pocket, probably to see if his phone was vibrating.

May dug hers out of her purse and checked the caller ID.

Leaf!

"It's Leaf!" she said to Drew, completely astonished.

He turned his body to face her direction, still leaning on the railing. "Is that your friend?"

 _Ring._

"Yeah."

Drew didn't miss a beat. "Are you going to tell her how pretty my eyes are?"

May's breath hitched in her throat as her mind jumped back to the conversation she'd had with Leaf right after her first run-in with Drew. He'd heard that, too.

He was clearly pleased with himself, and his smug expression was the smuggest it had ever been.

 _Ring._

His eyes glanced down at the ringing phone in her hand, then flicked back up to her face. "I think you should get that."

May felt herself filling to the brim with anger and embarrassment. Her cheeks were burning as she clicked the button to answer Leaf's call.

"Hello," she said into the phone angrily, her eyes locked onto Drew.

"I'll leave you to it," he said with a smirk, pushing himself off of the railing and opening the door to return to his living room.

"May!" Leaf said, excitedly. "How was your day?"

May watched as Drew's balcony door clicked shut, and she was once again left with the bustle of the busy city streets.

"Horrible."

* * *

 **Was it worth the wait? I hope so!**

 **Thanks for following this! Let me know what you liked about this chapter! Let me know what you didn't! Any questions? Ask away!**

 **Also, if you haven't already, you can read my contestshipping one shots while you wait for installments. If you've already read them, then I am very sorry and you're just going to have to wait for the next chapter lol. (sorry!)**

 **Thank you everyone for your continued support! I value it more than you know.**


	4. Chapter 4

**This was a late update, I know. But it took a lot of time to plan things out! I'm still navigating through this and making sure I can keep things consistent. But it's here, finally. So enjoy!**

* * *

"Where have you been, Leaf?" May interrogated. "I've been calling you all day!"

The brunette remained on her balcony, the breeze of the night becoming a bit too chilly.

"I was taking care of something!"

May scoffed. "All day?"

"Yeah."

"Leaf, that's so…" she struggled to find a word for it. "Suspicious."

"May, there's nothing suspicious about…"

She listened intently as she anticipated what her friend would say. Not answering your phone? Disappearing for an entire day without a valid excuse? Essentially going missing?

" _…anything—_ "

"Leaf."

Her friend finished the rest of her sentence incredibly quickly. "—that I did or didn't do today."

May took multiple seconds to process what she said. "What—"

"Let's talk about your cute neighbor friend."

"Let's… not do that."

May leaned on her balcony and peered at the street below her. Because of her position on the second floor, the height wasn't dizzying.

"Please, May," Leaf begged.

The brunette rolled her eyes. "He's not my friend."

"But he is your neighbor," Leaf confirmed.

May paused slightly. "Yes."

"And he is cute."

She rolled her eyes again. "Leaf."

"May," her friend mimicked.

May looked to her right to ensure that his balcony was indeed empty before giving in to her friend's request. She sighed and lowered her voice.

"He has a girlfriend, Leaf."

She listened to her friend gasp at the news.

"Yeah," May said. The night air lapped against her skin.

"What?!"

"I know."

"But he was _perfect_."

May decided she'd had enough of the cold breeze and stepped back into her living room. "He's not perfect. He's just—" May sat down on her sofa. "Green."

It might have been her imagination, but she thought she heard muted laughter. She narrowed her eyes in the direction of Drew's apartment and wondered if he could hear her from the living room, too.

"Do you know his name yet?" Leaf asked.

May whispered her answer. "Drew."

"Why are you whispering?" Leaf whispered in response. She gasped. "Oh my god, he's in your apartment, isn't he?"

"What? No—"

"He's totally in your apartment."

May laughed lightly. "No, he's not—"

"Oh, wait," Leaf interrupted. "I can't talk right now. I'll call you back later."

"What?" May asked, confused at the sudden change of pace. "Why?"

"I really have to go, May!" Leaf said again. "Love you! Bye!"

The line went dead and May stared at the blank screen of her phone.

"Bye," she said softly.

She glanced at the three walls in front of her and sighed. What was going on with Leaf? She turned her attention to the counter and spotted the uneaten loaf of bread. The weight of her awful day was still on her shoulders. Not even her friend at the park could help her feel better now.

May lifted herself off of the couch and padded down the halls, turning off light switches as she went. Upon reaching her room, she turned on her lamp and shut the door. Carefully, she crawled on her bed and sat cross-legged facing the wall.

Apparently, her room and Drew's room shared a wall. Which meant he was probably less than ten feet away from her right now. She listened intently to hear anything at all, but heard nothing.

Was he even there? Maybe he lied about the whole thing.

"If you want to talk," came Drew's muffled voice, "we can talk."

May's eyes widened. Did she say something out loud?

She chose to stay absolutely silent.

"I can practically feel you staring at me through the wall."

She instantly looked towards her window, embarrassed by something he couldn't entirely prove. Again, she said nothing.

"So do you want to talk?"

Without turning her head, she slowly looked in the direction of the wall they shared. May tried to battle the smile that was tugging at her lips.

No. Absolutely not. Never again.

"Yeah," she said.

She heard him laugh lightly as her fingers drummed against her thigh. A smile graced her own lips and she ran a hand through her hair. Leaf would be so proud of her.

After digging through her closet to find a sweater, May opened the door to her balcony and waited for her neighbor to join her.

His door opened just as hers was closing and he stepped out onto their meeting place. May hugged herself to stay warm and watched him emerge from his apartment. His hair was slightly messy. Maybe he had just tugged on a T-shirt before he left his room. He softly shut his balcony door and met her eyes. She couldn't believe she agreed to do this.

"Hi," May said softly.

"Hi," he reciprocated.

She let her eyes dance across the contours of his face. She could feel the wind blow her hair in the direction of the city streets. The night around them was still very much alive.

His eyes were soft and his lips were curved slightly.

"I'm going to talk to you," May said.

Drew waited for her to finish her sentence, but she said nothing else. He gave a curt half-nod and held back a chuckle.

"Alright," he said, clearly amused.

May held up a finger briefly before returning it to where it rested on her arm.

"Just this once," she said.

He grinned. "Okay."

She could still see how long his eyelashes were, even in the darkness of the night.

"One time," she laminated.

He said nothing.

She pointed downwards.

"This is that one time," May explained at the same time he said, "Never again. Got it."

They stared at each other in silence, May cautious and Drew entirely enthused. A car below honked its horn, but neither of them looked.

May sighed and looked down at her feet before switching her weight to her other leg. "So."

"So," he said.

"I have some questions for you," she challenged.

He briefly returned her stare before bending down to pick up the paper ball that still rested on his balcony.

"Alright."

She watched him grab it and stand back up.

"Do you have any questions for me?" she asked.

"Yeah. I do."

"Okay. Well make them count, because this is it."

She could feel her resolve crumbling the longer he looked at her with that stupid smirk.

"Alright." Drew tossed the paper ball at her. "What was burning this morning?"

She caught it and examined it in her fingers. It had somehow been crumpled so that her last name was exposed on the outside of the ball. That must have been why he didn't call her 'May' earlier.

"This is the one chance you get to talk to me—" She tossed it back at him. "And that's what you want to know?"

He caught the ball and shrugged. "It's been bugging me."

Toss. Catch. May debated keeping the answer from him, but decided it wouldn't hurt, given they would never speak again after tonight.

"Pancakes."

Toss. Catch.

"Oh, interesting," he said.

He threw the ball back at her and she caught it, a smile breaking across her lips.

May tossed the ball back without saying anything at all.

He almost laughed. "What?"

"Why aren't you asking me serious questions?"

He tossed the ball back at her. "That _was_ a serious question."

Catch.

"This is your only opportunity," May sang before continuing their tossing pattern.

Drew held onto the paper ball instead of throwing it back at her. "Okay. The next one's going to be really serious."

May felt herself relaxing into their conversation as she leaned onto her railing with one arm, still facing his direction.

"Okay."

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

Drew jerked his head towards the cityscape. "Do you see that apartment over there?"

Intrigue suddenly washed over her. Was there something she didn't know about this part of the city? Was he going to tell her a ghost story?

He must have seen the interest on her face because his smirk returned.

May looked across the way and tried to see which apartment he could have possibly been referring to.

"The one with the curtains or the one with the lights on?"

"The one with the lights on."

She watched intently as she tried to see something wrong with it.

"Every night," Drew started.

May gave him her undivided attention as she impatiently waited for him to finish his sentence. He paused for dramatic effect and May felt like exploding.

"The lights go out," he stated.

She stared at him and let that information sink in before realizing what was actually happening.

Drew held onto the railing and laughed as quietly as he could. May clenched her fists as her cheeks burned.

"Drew!" she yelled out of frustration.

He looked up at her suddenly, still holding onto the railing. May realized her mistake and immediately covered her mouth with her hand. The two stared at each other for multiple seconds. A car with a loud engine whizzed around a corner below them.

"I can explain," May said quickly through her fingers.

Drew leaned on his railing and awaited her explanation.

"It was on your letter," she said, hugging herself again.

He rested his head in his hand and placed his fingers along the side of his face.

"That I _didn't_ read, by the way," she added.

He nodded, clearly amused.

"And…" May struggled to find something substantial to add to her argument.

"I just don't think it's fair," Drew murmured, "that you've known my name this entire time and you won't tell me yours."

May's eyes flicked to the paper ball that was still in his hand. "You're holding my resume."

"I want you to tell me."

At some point, May had moved to the corner of her balcony closest to Drew's apartment and had leaned on the railing as well. Drew had done the same. The two were as close to each other as their restrictions would allow.

"Not going to happen," she said.

May watched as the moonlight illuminated Drew's hair and graced his skin with a light glow. His eyes were slightly lidded and she could feel their conversation entering a softer territory.

Drew shifted his weight and leaned on his forearm. He looked out into the city briefly before capturing her again with those dragon-like eyes.

"You didn't ask me anything," he said.

He was right. She'd somehow failed to ask him any of the things she wanted to know about. But now didn't really seem like the time anymore.

"When's your party?" she asked.

He grinned at her.

Their next words overlapped.

"Not that I'm going—"

"I thought you weren't coming?"

"I'm not."

Drew patiently waited for her to explain.

"I just need to know when it is to avoid it."

He nodded slowly. "Oh, to avoid it."

"Right."

The way he was looking at her. She could feel herself falling, against her will.

After a couple of seconds of heavy silence, he still had not answered her question.

May tried her best to keep from giggling. She'd quickly gone from never wanting anything to do with him to wishing she could stay out on her balcony for the rest of the night.

"So, when is it?" she asked.

He waited half a second before answering. "Saturday."

"That's in two days," May murmured.

"It is," he confirmed.

He didn't ask again if he'd see her there. They both knew the answer.

"I have some bad news," she said to him.

"And what is that?"

"You wasted your last conversation with me," May said softly.

The cool night air rippled through her, though Drew didn't seem to be bothered by it.

He shook his head slightly. "No, I didn't."

May smiled. "You don't think so?"

Drew knew close to nothing about her. And she definitely knew almost nothing about him. There was still so much about him that went unanswered.

"No," he said.

"Why not?"

His gaze jumped back and forth between her eyes. "Because this wasn't our last conversation."

The brunette felt a smile tug at her lips. He was probably right. No matter how much she promised herself she would have nothing to do with him, something about him warranted her attention.

The two shared a brief comfortable silence before a sharp whisper pierced through the night.

"May!"

The brunette jumped slightly and made eye contact with Drew to confirm that he'd heard it, too.

"May!" came another sharp whisper.

Drew's eyes widened as he made the connection between the name and his new neighbor.

May peered over the railing of the balcony and saw a figure waving at her in the darkness. Her heart soared immediately, and she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Can you let me up?" the person whispered loudly.

"Who's that?" Drew asked, leaning over slightly to see over the edge of his balcony.

May waved back at the person below before breaking into a smile.

"Leaf."

* * *

 **Oooh, here we go! I hope this was worth the wait! Let me know what you think. Review!**

 **Thank you for all of the support for this! I'm trying to live up to the expectations.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm back again this week with a chapter that was ton of fun to write. Hopefully it's a ton of fun to read.**

 **Thank you for all of the favorites and follows, everyone!**

 **To the guest who reviewed last week: thank you so much for the nice review! It means so much to me that you made the effort to review even without an account. Also thank you for liking my other one-shots, too. I appreciate your support so much! And yes, that was a perfectly fine way to end a review lol.**

* * *

"Leaf!" May exclaimed as she collided with her friend in the darkness that lay outside her building. She had gone downstairs to meet her and immediately embraced her.

"May!" Leaf replied with just as much excitement, returning the hug. The warmth from Leaf's beige sweater only served to increase May's happiness.

"Hi!" May said, pulling back to look her friend in the eyes.

"HI!" Leaf replied, holding back a giggle.

"Let's go upstairs!" May suggested with the same enthusiasm.

"Okay!" her friend agreed, her tone a replica of her own.

The two girls laughed and entered the apartment building. May suddenly didn't feel so alone anymore. It was amazing how immediately her friend impacted her mood.

They ascended the steps together, Leaf following closely behind and holding her luggage. May was unsure of how long she intended on visiting, but was grateful for the company.

"Who were you talking to?" Leaf asked softly. "On the balcony?"

They reached the top of the stairs and May looked back at her with a guilty expression as she approached the door to her apartment.

Leaf's eyes widened. "Was it—?"

May silently motioned for her friend to stop talking; Drew would certainly hear them talking about him in the hallway. She held a finger up to her lips, and Leaf covered her mouth with both hands.

The two girls said nothing and opted for a silent conversation.

May's blue eyes darted in the direction of Drew's apartment before quickly returning to Leaf's face, her finger still resting on her lips.

Leaf quickly glanced at the door to apartment 214 before looking back at May. Her eyes were a question.

May nodded slowly, her hand falling from her face and Leaf's eyes widened in understanding.

The lighter brunette turned around and placed her key in the lock, opening her door. She turned around to look at her friend standing behind her, but stopped in her tracks when she saw her standing _next_ to her, directly in front of apartment 214. Leaf's eyes were narrowed deviously, a grin plastered on her face.

May's heart stopped. The silence in the hallway suddenly felt very tangible. Any second it could be filled with an echoing knocking sound.

She wouldn't. May knew her friend. She wouldn't dare.

Leaf slowly raised a fist in preparation to knock on the door, her smile never faltering.

"Leaf," May whispered fiercely, but she was overpowered by another voice.

"What are you doing?"

Leaf froze completely, her teasing expression nonexistent. The two girls turned to see who had spoken.

It was the guy from before. The guy with the spiky hair. He was wearing a black shirt and what looked to be a white lab coat. Keys were dangling from his fingers.

His eyes seemed to be focused on Leaf, and a smirk spread across his lips upon seeing her face. His gaze dragged lazily down to her suitcase and slowly returned to her eyes. He twirled the keys around his index finger before catching them in his palm.

"Actually, if you need a place to stay," he said smoothly, "I can make it happen."

Leaf's face was painted red with embarrassment. She turned around to face him completely, tucking her brown locks behind her ear.

May could tell she was struggling to find something to say. The guy's looks probably weren't helping either.

"Thanks, but," May said, interjecting and grabbing hold of Leaf's arm. The guy gave her his attention for the first time since the whole ordeal began. "I've got that covered." She tugged on her friend's arm to pull her closer. "Right, Leaf?"

Leaf was forced to take a few steps towards May, her suitcase rolling along with her. Her attention was set on the person in front of them, his brown eyes following her as she moved from in front of his door.

"Yeah," Leaf said, trying to sound adamant. May wasn't sure it was too convincing.

May's neighbor scoffed in amusement before inserting his keys in his door.

"Well if you change your mind…" He winked, "you know where to find me."

The door was shut and the lock was turned, leaving the two girls standing in the lit hallway.

May ushered Leaf inside her own apartment and locked her door, watching her friend slowly recover. Leaf's mouth was slightly agape and she was staring, wide-eyed, at nothing in particular.

She suddenly turned to May and mouthed, "Who was that?"

May shrugged in complete confusion. She'd only seen him once and actually wasn't sure that he'd lived there until now.

Leaf let go of her suitcase and brought her hand up to her mouth. She was lost in thought for a couple of seconds before looking back up at May in pure astonishment.

"Did you see his lab coat?" Leaf whispered, utterly amazed.

May smiled teasingly and nodded. "Yes, I did."

Her friend brought a hand to her forehead and stared at the kitchen counter. "May, it was beautiful."

Leaf had a thing for book-smart guys, as she was a bookworm herself. Something about being knowledgable in math and science was just attractive to her. Seeing that guy in a lab coat was probably what made her blush in the first place.

"Come on," May said, grabbing the handle of her friend's suitcase. She guided her down the hall to her room. "It's late."

"It was in perfect condition," Leaf emphasized, as she entered the room.

"I know. We can talk in the morning."

* * *

"…And I'm pretty sure they're dating," May concluded, taking a bite of her sandwich.

The two brunettes were sitting in a nearby cafe, enjoying brunch together. May decided that it was the perfect place to explain everything to Leaf without anyone overhearing.

"But she said they weren't moving in together," Leaf clarified, taking a sip of her tea.

May swallowed what she was eating and stared at the table in thought. Leaf was right. The reaction Daisy had after May assumed that she and Drew were planning on sharing an apartment was definitely memorable.

"But she said that Drew has been—" May used her fingers to quote Daisy's words. "'ready for months.' What does that mean—"

"Ready for what?" Leaf asked at the virtually the same time.

"I don't know," the lighter brunette said.

"Ooh," Leaf said, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. She held her tea cup between her hands, her elbows resting on the table. The cup shielded her mouth from May's view. "That's weird."

May rubbed her forefinger and thumb against a napkin to wipe them off. "Exactly."

"How long have they known each other?" Leaf asked. May could tell she was expertly analyzing the situation.

"I don't know," she admitted.

"Why would she know that?"

"I have no idea."

Leaf tilted her teacup towards her mouth and took a sip before once again cradling it between her hands.

May lifted up a spoon and stirred her sweetened coffee. "But we were talking last night and—"

"Oh, yeah!" Leaf said excitedly. She put her cup down on the table and rested her chin on her hands. "Tell me about it."

May's blue eyes flicked up to meet Leaf's, a smile breaking across her lips. She looked back down at her coffee and shrugged playfully. "I don't know. It just didn't seem like… it just felt like…"

Leaf was practically wiggling in her seat. "Like…" she encouraged.

May's smile widened, though she refused to meet her friend's eyes. She lifted her eyebrows playfully. "Like…" She shook her head. "I don't know."

Leaf refused to let the topic slide. "What did you talk about?"

"Nothing!" May said, astonished. She finally looked up from her coffee to make eye contact with the girl sitting across from her at their wooden table. "We didn't talk about anything. But that's just the thing." Her eyes flicked down to the drink in front of her. "It didn't feel that way." She ladled the coffee in the spoon before turning her wrist slightly and letting the liquid spill back into the cup. "It felt like I could talk about nothing with him… for hours."

When the darker brunette didn't reply, May looked up at her to see her smiling sweetly. The sight embarrassed May and she could feel her cheeks growing warm.

She giggled lightly and sat back in her chair. "Leaf, stop _looking_ at me like that!"

Her friend averted her eyes to humor her, still smiling blissfully. May could practically hear her squealing internally.

"I also told him I never wanted to talk to him again," she admitted suddenly.

Leaf's smile crashed immediately. She stared at May in disbelief. "What? Why?!"

May nervously tucked loose hair behind her ear. "I didn't know what to do!"

Leaf looked entirely frustrated. "So, you—?!" She sighed and rested her head in her hands like talking to May was the equivalent of requesting a headache. "But it was going so well," she mumbled.

May moved her sandwich across her plate with a fork. "Yeah, I guess it was. And then he—"

Leaf looked up at her immediately, her eyes wide. "He what. What did he say."

"He said that… we were definitely going to talk again." May could practically _feel_ the dreamy look returning to her face. It vanished abruptly when she remembered another detail. She frowned, narrowing her eyes. "But he said it in _such_ an arrogant way."

"Like that other guy," Leaf connected immediately.

May's face lit up with recognition and she pointed her fork at Leaf in agreement. "Yes. Like that other guy." Slight pause. "But maybe not as bad." Longer pause. "And definitely not as green."

Leaf laughed. " _Why_ do you keep bringing that up?"

"It's so weird!" May said, emphasizing her words with her hands. "When you see him you'll understand."

Her friend's face immediately perked up. "When?"

" _If_ ," May corrected immediately. " _If_ you see him."

Leaf wiggled her shoulders and raised her eyebrows. Her grin was contagious. May missed her friend more than she'd realized. "You said _when_."

"I don't remember," May said, her giggles getting the best of her, " _ever_ saying that. _Anywhere_." Leaf laughed aloud in the close quarters of the small cafe. "In _any_ context."

The brown-eyed girl rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, May."

"And," May continued, recalling a very important detail she'd forgotten to mention. Her tone was a bit more serious. "He also didn't invite me to a party. Anywhere. In any context."

Leaf paused and stared at her friend in disbelief.

"That _isn't_ tomorrow night." May paused. "Or any other night of the week," she added quickly.

"You have to go."

" _Leaf_ ," May whined.

"You have to make an appearance," she argued as if there was no other choice.

May bit her lip, drumming her fingers. The rest of her sandwich was long abandoned, as there were more pressing matters on the table. Twenty-four hours ago, she was entirely confident in the fact that she wanted nothing to do with the person she had the displeasure of calling her neighbor. After all, as far as first impressions were concerned, he had definitely failed.

Oh, wait. Or did he pass? He'd lit her fuse, but still caused something to ignite inside of her. Something she undoubtedly craved. If he truly failed, she wouldn't have agreed to talk with him last night, and she surely would not be contemplating attending his party at all.

"Okay," May agreed, defeated more-so by her own thoughts than Leaf's ultimatum. "But you have to come with me."

Leaf set her jaw as she contemplated the best strategy to secure May's attendance to the party. Finally, she lifted her tea cup to her lips and took a sip. "Then, we're going together."

* * *

The following night, May and Leaf stood in front of apartment 214, the rhythm of the bass pumping through their veins. Leaf had borrowed a little black dress from May's closet, while May herself donned skinny jeans and a top that teasingly revealed her midriff.

The two girls turned to each other and commenced a quick pep talk.

"Your eyes are stunning," Leaf said rapidly, her face stoic.

"That dress is perfect," May mirrored.

"Your legs look great."

"Hair toss?" May offered.

Leaf tossed her long, curled tresses over her shoulder.

"Hot," May commented.

The two high-fived quickly, yet fiercely and once again faced the door.

"We're ready," May said, turning the handle.

The atmosphere hit them immediately. Their apartment somehow seemed much bigger than hers was. The room was filled with people around their age dancing, conversing, taking up every available space. May could barely see the furniture. Abstract artwork hung on the walls, illuminated by backlights, although the room itself was dim. Leaf had quietly shut the door, although it had probably done nothing to prevent the upbeat music from leaking into the hallway.

The two owners of the apartment were nowhere in sight. May and Leaf exchanged looks before linking arms and weaving their way to the makeshift dance floor. Neither of them knew the song, but they let the vibe of the room flow through them. May closed her eyes and lifted her hands above her head, getting lost in the sound. It was reassuring that Leaf was there with her, accompanying her into unmarked territory. This was already the most fun she'd had since moving to the city.

Their dancing came to an abrupt stop when a voice broke its way through the loud music.

"Well if it isn't Cottontail."

May opened her eyes and turned to identify the owner of the voice. It happened to be Drew's brown-haired roommate. His lab coat was ditched for a black V-neck.

He stood directly behind Leaf and she whipped around completely to face him, her hair swaying behind her.

"Or should I say," he continued. A smirk spread across his lips. "Linens N Things."

May's eyes widened in recognition. He was talking about the towel incident.

She frowned. But he wasn't even there for that! Drew must have told him.

Before she could defend herself, he turned his attention to Leaf.

"I see you've changed your mind," he murmured, his body angled towards hers. One of his arms was extended slightly, a red solo cup in his hand.

Leaf stood up as tall as she could have without colliding her face with his. "Really? I don't think I have."

May suspected that Leaf's sudden confidence in his presence was due to the fact that his lab coat was probably in a closet somewhere.

The guy's smirk didn't falter, his lidded brown eyes dancing across Leaf's face.

"I think I can persuade you," he said so low that it was almost drowned in the music.

Oh my god. May could practically see her friend's resolve crumbling. The tinge of red at the tips of Leaf's ears was so apparent that May was relieved she couldn't see how deep it was on her face.

Before she knew it, Leaf was being led away from her. Her friend turned around briefly, her curls bouncing along her back as she moved.

"Sorry!" she mouthed.

Great. So much for conquering this party together.

May turned around and tried to get back into the music, before her flow was interrupted again.

"Maple."

She knew that voice. She was embarrassed by how quickly she recognized it.

May turned quickly and came face to face with Drew. He was wearing a cream-colored sweater, the sleeves rolled up to his forearm. A red cup was also in his hand, and he was standing directly in front of her. May had to look up to make eye-contact with him, as her face was level with his collarbone.

"Hi," May said. Did she sound breathless? She hoped not.

"Hi," he said back, a slow smirk gracing his lips.

Somehow, he was attractive in every kind of lighting.

Seconds ticked by before either of them said anything else, but they didn't have to. The expression on Drew's face said it all: _I knew you would show up_.

"Can I get you a drink?" he asked her.

She was extremely conscious of how he was making eye contact with her, his gaze bouncing back and forth between her eyes.

"Yes," she said, without breaking his gaze. "I'd love that."

* * *

 **Next chapter is going to be the most fun yet. I can absolutely assure you. I was actually going to add a bit more to this one, but I figured that this would be a great place to stop it.**

 **Also, if you weren't aware, Linens N Things is a store that sells exactly what it sounds like it would sell. I think it's primarily in North America, though, so I thought I'd clarify. Hopefully that little quip translated well anyway.**

 **How do you like Leaf so far? And Drew's roommate (who will be named soon enough, though you have to know who he is by now)? Let me know! And stay tuned.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, everyone! This chapter is WELL overdue and I'm very sorry but I've been all over the place. Also, this feels a little bit rough to me, so let me know if there are a few details in this chapter that I can hammer out/omit.**

 **I don't think the next chapter will take as long for the upload. But I hope you enjoy this one! I have some more planning to do for future chapters.**

 **To the guest who reviewed last week, thank you for the review! I'm glad you think this is cute lol Sorry you had to wait so long for this update!**

* * *

Drew led May to the bar set up in the back of the apartment, conversing with people who congratulated him briefly on the success of his party. May felt her pulse synchronize with the beat of the music as she scanned the crowd of faces surrounding her. None of them were recognizable. Her eyes travelled back to the figure in front of her, and she watched the way his shoulders moved when he walked. She noticed the little green hairs at the nape of his neck.

After weaving through the mass of people, the two reached the bar, which was set up next to a door which probably led to Drew's balcony. The immediate area was lit very dimly by a floor lamp located nearby.

May stopped at the front of the bar, watching as Drew made his way around the back. She pressed her fingers against the dark, finished wood and tried to concentrate on his demeanor rather than the volume of conversations and music surrounding them.

Drew reached down below the bar and retrieved a short glass for her. May quickly surveyed the area and confirmed her suspicions: everyone else was holding a red cup.

She turned to face him and immediately met his dragon green eyes. Easily the most beautiful eyes she'd ever seen.

He lifted his hand and she watched as it reached for the bottles of alcohol on the bar top. His hand hovered over a bottle of gin. May's eyes flicked up to his and she immediately noticed the playful glint behind them. She turned her attention back to his hand and watched it move on to a bottle of whiskey. Then a bottle of rum. A bottle of vodka.

She looked up at him in confirmation and his eyebrows immediately raised skeptically, as if to say, "Vodka? You?"

She set her jaw and stared him down, thinking, _Yes. Vodka. Me._

Drew didn't break eye contact with her, a slow smirk gracing his face. He glanced down at her lips before reaching for the bottle of rum and opening it.

"Why do I feel like," he said, pouring the rum into the glass, "you're not the vodka type?"

May watched carefully as he tipped the bottle back and screwed the top shut. She peeked at him through her eyelashes, suddenly feeling immensely playful.

"Because I'm not," she admitted.

"You're the fruity-drink type."

"Yes."

The two neighbors stared at each other, the brunette's fingertips pressed against the polished surface of the bar. Though the room was bustling with laughter and rhythmic music, a playful silence hung between them. May let her eyes travel to his lips and drummed her fingers against the wood. The attraction she had to him was so overwhelming that she was grateful for the bar acting as a barrier between them.

Her gaze crawled to Drew's fingers around the glass filled with rum. He was gripping it a bit too tightly. May looked up into his face and immediately noticed how intense his gaze was. How he clenched his jaw. She smirked when she realized that for the first time, he did not have the advantage.

He was just as attracted as she was.

"What are you making me?" May asked, her emotions seeping their way into her tone.

He broke free of her gaze and reached down to grab another bottle.

"A fruity drink," he said.

Drew released his grip on the bottle, which revealed the label to May: _Pineapple Juice._

"Ooh," she said, raising her eyebrows with excitement.

"Ooh," he mimicked with a smirk, unscrewing the cap.

Drew tipped the bottle into her glass, adding only a splash of the juice. He screwed the cap back on quickly and replaced it on the shelf beneath the bar.

"Coconut?" May guessed.

"Nope," he answered, resurfacing with a bottle of orange juice.

Drew once again added a splash to the drink before resealing the bottle and reaching down to reposition it on the shelf. He came up with a bottle of red liquid.

May smiled slyly and looked Drew in the face. "Is that grenadine?"

"Yep."

The brunette shook her head in amusement. "You're so classy."

"I know."

He tipped the bottle back, then returned it to its former place on the shelf. With one swift motion, he lightly swirled together the contents of the drink and pushed it in May's direction. Leaning on the bar with one hand, he lifted his own red solo cup to his lips and waited for May to taste his creation.

She admired the colors of the drink itself before daintily lifted it to her lips. Her eyes locked with his as she took a sip. It was tropical and flavorful.

Drew brought his cup back down to rest on the bar. "Good?"

"Yes."

"Good." He tilted his head to the left quickly, signaling departure. "Let's talk."

May grabbed her glass and followed him a few steps to the left, where the door to his balcony was positioned. He opened it, peered outside, and shut it quickly.

"Not here," he said.

He took off in a different direction, and May looked over her shoulder at the door, supposing it was already occupied.

His hand dangled at his side as he led the way, and she fought the urge to grab it to help weave through the crowd.

May once again scanned the mass of people surrounding her. There was no sign of Leaf. Or a particular blonde.

Drew veered to the right and led her down a short hallway, opening the door at the end. May took a step inside the doorway, and he reached behind her to close his door quietly.

"Is this your room?" May asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Yep," he said.

The room itself held virtually nothing. There was his bed and a dresser, but the walls were virtually empty. For some reason, she expected much more of his personality to shine in the area, but it didn't.

May made her way to the tight space between the wall and his bed, sitting on the floor with her back flat against the horizontal surface.

Drew stood before her, looking as if he wanted to say something. He shook his head and swallowed his question, stooping to sit next to her in the close quarters.

With his back against the bed, and hers against the wall, the two sat almost diagonal to each other. The rhythm of the music, although softened by the barrier of the bedroom door, continued to pump through the walls.

"So," May said.

"So," Drew said, one corner of his mouth lifting.

The brunette watched as her forefinger traced the brim of her glass. "I was expecting to see someone here." She looked up to meet Drew's eyes.

"Someone like who?" he asked, bringing his red cup to his lips.

"Your girlfriend," May said as casually as she could. The word still sounded like a dagger to her.

Drew said nothing at first, then responded with, "I don't have a girlfriend." He brought the cup back up to his lips and waited for May to speak.

She said nothing.

"You don't believe me," he stated, a glint in his eye.

She set her jaw and straightened her back against the wall. "Nope."

His eyebrows crinkled slightly, and he brought his cup down to rest on his knee. "Who told you I had a girlfriend?" His tone changed to one of tired boredom. "Was it Gary."

Did May know a Gary? She didn't think so.

"Who's," she started, trying to match the name with a face. "Who's Gary?"

"My roommate."

 _Oh. Him._

Drew leaned forward a bit, his eyes narrowing. "How would you know her if you saw her, anyway?"

May shrugged, bringing her glass to her lips. She could feel the fire in her eyes as she challenged his gaze. "She's probably blonde."

Drew almost scoffed, and leaned back against the bed. He shook his head and broke her gaze for only a second. "No, I'm not into blondes."

May let that confession hang in the air before verifying it.

"No?" she asked slyly.

"No," he said, his eyes a challenge.

Simultaneously, they lifted their drinks to their lips and listened to the party buzz just outside of their four walls.

"Can I ask you something?" he murmured.

"Yeah," May said softly.

His cup was lowered to rest on his knee once again. "Why did you move here?"

"To the city?"

"Yeah."

She shrugged, tucking some loose strands behind her ear. "I thought I would love it."

"Do you?"

His voice was so low. Their conversation felt so intimate, like a secret they were sharing.

"Yeah," she breathed.

"You're a city girl."

May smiled. "From a small town."

He suddenly grinned and nodded, taking a drink from his cup. "I knew it."

She watched as he made short, breathy chuckles. "No way."

He extended his legs slightly, although there wasn't much distance between the bed and the wall. "Something about you just _screams_ small town." He shrugged when she said nothing in response. "You just don't have that city feel."

May narrowed her eyes slightly. "Well, where are you from?"

"The city." He paused. "A different city. Smaller."

She took a sip of her drink and pursed her lips.

"Are you trying to pursue something?" he asked. "That's usually why people move here."

"Yeah," May said, breathily. "I want to be a performer."

"What kind?" he asked, taking another sip of his drink.

"I don't know!" she admitted exasperatedly, as this was something that had been bothering her for a while. "Something flashy, yet personal." He watched her intently. "Kind of like theatre, but not really."

When she said her final sentence, his eyebrows shot up, as if something clicked for him, too.

"Yeah," he agreed. Gesturing to her with the red cup in his hand. "I tried doing theatre in high school. It didn't feel right."

"Exactly!" she whispered excitedly. "Theatre isn't it."

"No."

"It has to be something that showcases my personality—"

"—And skill," Drew added.

"—And skill," May amended. "At the same time."

"Right."

Slight pause.

"But I don't know what that is," May said.

"Neither do I," Drew stated. "I've been trying to figure it out for years."

A short silence fell between them, as they processed what they just shared.

"I can't believe you're looking for the same imaginary thing I am," Drew said. He took a swig of his drink. "Gary didn't get it."

May worked hard to suppress her giggles but failed. "I can't believe you did theatre in high school."

Drew paused, a smirk plastered on his face. Seconds passed before he spoke. "This isn't about that."

May wiggled her eyebrows. "We can _make_ it about that."

"Nope," he replied, grinning. "We can't."

"Why?"

"You know why."

The brunette debated challenging him further on the topic, but decided she would rather bring it up inconveniently in the future.

But what could he possibly be referring to? Was there something he wanted to know? Oh. She knew the answer almost immediately.

"Because I didn't tell you my name." She took a swig of her drink, her gaze absolutely sultry.

" _Especially_ because you didn't tell me your name," he said.

He waited in smug anticipation, and May debated keeping it from him.

"May," she said.

A grin spread across his lips. "Drew. Nice to meet you."

There was suddenly a knock on the door, and Drew looked over his shoulder to see who it could be. Someone poked his head inside, searching for something. His eyes fell on the empty bed, before spotting the two sitting at the far wall of the room.

"Hey, man," the guy said. "Everyone's wondering where you are."

"Tell them I'm busy," Drew said casually.

The guy sighed, as if this would be a taxing job to do. "Alright." He looked at May and nodded his head in greeting. "Hey."

"Hey," May said back, although she had no idea who he was.

The guy closed the door, and Drew turned his head to face her again.

"Hey," she said to him, just as she had to his friend.

"Hey," he replied, chuckling.

Her eyes travelled to the red cup in his hands. "Can we switch drinks?"

He didn't answer right away, but his eyes were incredibly playful. "Sure." He handed her his cup and she did the same. "It's strong though."

May kept eye contact with him as she drank from his red cup and held back a grimace. It definitely wasn't fruity.

"Is this gin?" she asked.

"Yep," he said, sipping from her glass. He watched her swallow the drink and held back a laugh. "Do you want to switch back?"

"Nope," she said stubbornly. He grinned warmly and she tried to ignore how beautiful his smile was. "Quick question." Drew nodded. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-four."

"Okay," May said.

"You?" he asked.

"Twenty-two."

He nodded again.

She adjusted her position on the floor, crossing one leg over the other. "Do you…" she began, trying to find the best way to phrase her question. "Are you still trying to figure out what this performing thing is?"

Drew shook his head. "I gave up a while ago."

May frowned. "Why?"

"I don't think it exists," he said plainly, meeting her eyes. "I don't know where we got this idea from, but I don't think it's real."

"Then, why did we both think of it?" she asked.

"Separately," he added.

"Yeah."

"I don't know."

Her gaze bounced back and forth between his eyes. A part of her wanted to believe, but deep down she knew he was right.

She took a drink from his red cup and decided to change the conversational topic. "Why are you throwing a party?"

He looked away from her and instead focused on the glass in his hand. "This was actually supposed to be my going away party."

A hairline crack suddenly appeared in her heart. What?

"But," he continued with a sigh, "the deal fell through. So now it's my Theres-Always-Next-Time party."

May cocked her head to the side, trying not to display the unexpected hurt on her face. "Why are you moving?"

"Because this building is _so_ shitty."

"What?"

"This is _such_ a shitty building," he emphasized.

"Why?" May asked. She liked it! It seemed pretty nice to her.

"Everything is going to break," Drew promised. "I guarantee you. Everything in your apartment is going to break at least twice."

May furrowed her eyebrows. Maybe _that's_ why she her rent was so cheap.

"And the walls are really thin," he added.

She knew that. And she could definitely go without being reminded of it.

"So, are you just going to a different building?" May asked.

He shrugged, but said no more on the topic.

Something about his silence bothered her. She knew it was too late to stop herself from falling, but she didn't want to get attached to something with an unforeseeable future. A summer fling in spring.

Drew watched his drink as he swirled the glass in his hand, his face fairly pensive. She wondered what was going through his mind.

"Do you dye your hair?" May asked suddenly.

Drew looked up at her, absolutely amused, like he knew the question would come up sooner or later. "No."

She cocked her head to the side and stared at his head. "Really?"

"Yep."

Her eyes darted from his hair to his eyes. Even his eyelashes were dark green. "So, why is it green?"

His hand casually swirled the liquid in his glass. "Genetics?"

A slow smile spread across May's lips, her eyes never breaking contact with his. A grin began to mirror on his face as well.

"I feel like you're lying to me," she admitted.

He almost laughed. "I'm not. It's real, I swear."

Before she could stop herself, May reached up to run her fingers through his hair. This was the first time they'd ever made contact. She could feel his eyes intensify as the palm of her hand grazed the tip of his ear. He did absolutely nothing to stop her.

Her simple action shifted the mood of the room immediately. A silence hung around them like a fog, as she lightly grasped a handful of his hair. Maybe the alcohol was making her spontaneous, but she decided to roll with it.

"So," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "Your kids are going to have green hair?"

His eyes were locked on her face, though she refused to meet them. She was distinctly aware of where his hands lingered.

"Probably," he mumbled.

She repeated the motion her hand had just undergone and let his green locks flow through her fingers once again. He exhaled very slowly.

"Oh," she whispered.

"Why?" he questioned, his voice low and smooth. "Are you worried?"

May let her hand slide down to the nape of his neck and watched as it rested there.

"A little," she breathed.

"For _my_ kids?" he said softly.

May let her blue eyes flick up to meet his green ones, and she could swear there was electricity. Her heart threatened to break free of her rib cage as she fell victim to the raw attraction. She wanted nothing more than to feel his lips against hers.

"I really want to kiss you," May said smoothly and matter-of-factly.

Drew continued holding her gaze, his expression stoic.

"That's not what I meant," she immediately amended, her tone surprisingly calm.

"Then, what did you mean?" Drew murmured.

Was it her imagination or was he leaning into her? She watched as he angled his head towards hers. His hand reached up to touch the side of her face. Her skin sparked to life under his touch.

"I meant…" May breathed. She let his sharp green gaze captivate her. "I really want to kiss you."

"You just said that," he whispered through short, breathy laughs. She could feel his words against her lips and longed to taste his smile. She could feel his thumb against her cheek and his fingers along the back of her neck.

She closed her eyes. "I guess I meant it, then."

* * *

 **Please don't hate me for stopping right there. BUT it was cute right? Satisfying? (Even a little?) Please please please let me know what you thought! I appreciate it all, everyone.**

 **See you soon.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, everyone! I have another late update for you. To tell you the truth, all of my updates are probably going to be about 2-3 weeks apart now. School's started back up again, and I just can't seem to find the time! Also I need time to think about what's actually going to happen.**

 **I got so many great reviews last chapter! I loved every single one of them (even the angry ones) but this chapter should be a little better. Again, let me know if there are any details that I can hammer out a bit more. I'll do it ASAP. Or just let me know what you liked! Anything you want, really. I'm loving all of the feedback so far!**

 **Oh, also please excuse some of the language in this chapter.**

 **In response to Forevershine: I'm so so so sorry lol. But look! The update is here! No more worries. And good! I'm glad the pacing is okay so far because sometimes I'm just not sure. Hopefully the pacing is okay in this chapter, too. I'm glad you like it so far!**

 **In response to Guest: Hahaha I'm so happy you like this! And I'm also really happy that I'm able to give you the feels. Especially at prime feels-time: 3am. You should be really getting them this chapter.**

 **Here we go, guys.**

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"Gary."

"Leaf."

"Leaf?"

"Yes."

"That's new."

Leaf stood next to him on the balcony of his apartment. The night air was a bit cold for her, but she didn't show it.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she challenged.

Gary leaned on the railing in front of them, his eyes locked on her. The smirk on his lips was unmistakable, but she was strong. She'd regained the confidence she lost when he dragged her outside. May would be proud.

He gestured with his cup. "Like, how many Leafs do you—" He paused. "Leaves? Is the plural of your name 'Leafs' or 'Leaves'?"

She crossed her arms, partially to protect herself from the chill, partially because he was absolutely aggravating.

"I don't know," she admitted.

"Why?" he asked smugly.

 _Because I've never met another one._

She didn't answer and he lifted his eyebrows slightly as if to say, "Do you see what I mean?"

"I like my name," Leaf said defiantly.

"I didn't say I didn't _like_ it," Gary said, defending himself. "It's just…" he made eye contact with her. "New."

Leaf stood entirely still, refusing to break his gaze. She felt the wind toss her long curled hair. She could hear the tires of the cars move along the pavement below, the crackling of the gravel beneath the rubber. The sounds of the party itself were muted by the heavy door that led back to the apartment.

Gary lifted his cup to his lips briefly before lowering it again. "Why," he started, "were you standing outside of my door the other night?"

Leaf felt her heartbeat quicken in embarrassment. "Um—"

"Do you know Drew?" he guessed.

"No," she admitted, her forefinger tapping against her arm.

Gary's eyes narrowed in thought. He blinked and scratched his chin, leaning off of the railing and standing upright. "But you know…"

"May."

Gary nodded slightly, his arm once again leaning against the railing. "Right."

He was standing so close to her that Leaf could easily reach up and place her hand on the back of his neck.

"Do you live next door?" he murmured, his head nodding in the direction of May's apartment but his eyes never leaving her face.

Leaf lifted her head and faced him directly, although he was a bit taller than she was. "No."

Gary chuckled, letting his head hang lightly. Leaf watched his smile, feeling one mirror on her own lips.

"So you don't even live here," he clarified.

His eyelashes were irresistibly long, and his chest was almost flush against hers. Their foreheads were practically touching, and Leaf could feel electricity tingling in her toes, as if lightning were about to strike her.

"No," she whispered. She could feel his body heat on the side of her neck, along the length of her arm.

He angled his head towards her shoulder, their cheeks almost touching.

"You're lucky you picked the right door," he mumbled.

The wind tossed her hair again, and she watched as it played with his own.

"Why was this the right door?" Leaf breathed.

Gary brushed his nose against hers. "I can show you."

Suddenly, the door to the balcony opened, causing the two of them to freeze. Gary's eyes opened in slight confusion, and Leaf leaned slightly to her right to see who'd interrupted their moment. Gary turned around as well only to see his roommate in a cream-colored sweater.

"Not here," Drew said before closing the door almost as quickly as he opened it.

Leaf watched as Gary turned around to face her. He sighed, running his hands through his spiky hair in frustration, and she burst into giggles.

"Not funny," he said curtly, turning to face the cityscape.

Leaf cocked her head to the side, her hair cascading down her shoulder. She moved to stand next to him and looked up at him with her brown eyes.

He looked down to meet her gaze, half of his face bathed in the moonlight.

"It was pretty funny," she said sweetly.

A smile tugged at his lips before he looked back towards the horizon and lifted his cup to his lips. "Whatever you say."

She tried her best to keep the conversation rolling. "Why did you come home so late that night?"

"Why? Were you worried about me?"

Leaf didn't miss a beat. "I didn't even know you existed."

He glanced at her and winced. "Ouch."

The brunette lifted her eyebrows. "So. Where were you?"

He turned his body to face her completely. His expression was absolutely playful. "At work."

Leaf almost scoffed. "At midnight?"

Gary shrugged, never breaking eye contact. "I work late."

"Where do you work?"

"On campus."

He let that statement hang in the cool night air, a whisper of a smug grin on his face.

Leaf felt frustration simmering in her veins. Was he going to elaborate?

"Are you a teaching assistant?" she guessed.

"Sort of," he said, shrugging. "But it's boring, so I mean—"

"I want to know," Leaf stated firmly.

He paused briefly before answering her. "I'm a lab assistant," he said casually.

Her breath hitched in her throat.

"At the paleontology lab on campus," he continued.

Leaf pretended that her heart didn't just do a backflip in her chest. She tried to make it seem as though blood didn't rush immediately to her face. Unfortunately for her, pretending was not enough.

Gary stared at her, almost frozen, eyes wide and analytical. She suddenly felt microscopic.

Suddenly, a slow, knowing smirk spread across his face. "That just turned you on," he said with playful certainty.

"I don't know what you're talking about—" Leaf attempted to recover.

" _Really_?" Gary asked, incredulously. " _Science_ gets you going?"

This could not possibly be happening to her right now. Why was she so obvious?

"Shut up," she said, having no other rebuttal. Her embarrassment was impairing her ability to think.

He brushed at his nose with the hand that held his cup, hiding his laughter slightly. "That's so funny."

Leaf rubbed her arms lightly, the chill leaking into her bones. "No, it isn't."

Gary sidled up next to her, just as she had done to him a few minutes ago. "It's pretty funny."

She couldn't help the smile that crept across her lips. He was already using her own words against her.

He looked down at her arms, and his brow wrinkled. She could see his mind processing something, before his eyes flicked back up to her face. "It's like 60 degrees."

"Yes," she confirmed.

A bemused expression overtook his features. "Why are you so cold?"

"Because it's cold out," Leaf said pointedly.

Gary continued to stare at her, his smirk widening.

He jerked his head in the direction of his apartment and stood up fully. "Let's go back inside. I'll get you a jacket."

"Alright," she agreed, releasing the grip she had on her arms.

His hand touched her waist briefly as he ushered her in the direction of the door. His hand reached around her and turned the handle, opening the door for her.

Leaf was once again submerged in the upbeat atmosphere of the room. Something electronic was still playing, but something about the room seemed different. It didn't seem to be as crowded as it was before. Some people had disbursed. Maybe some had left already.

She was aware of Gary's presence behind her, although she wasn't sure where to go.

"Here," Gary said softly, once again lightly placing a hand on her waist. He steered her like this, pressing and pulling slightly to signal which direction she should turn in. It was absolutely maddening. She could estimate how flustered she looked without even looking at her reflection.

"Hey!" a male voice called after them.

Gary's hand held firmly onto Leaf's waist and she stopped in her tracks. Someone Leaf didn't recognize emerged from the crowd.

The guy seemed relieved to see the brunet behind her. "Gary—" He suddenly looked at Leaf. "Oh, hey," he greeted.

"Hi," Leaf said back.

"Gary," the guy continued, once again giving him his attention. "You guys are getting a ton of noise complaints."

"Shit," Gary said.

"I know," the guy agreed.

"Go find Drew," Gary said dismissively, once again ushering Leaf in the direction he wanted her to go.

The guy was left behind, already being swallowed by the crowd. "What?"

"He'll figure it out," Gary called over his shoulder.

They left the guy standing in the middle of their floor and continued on their journey to reach their destination. She let him guide her through the mass of people and towards a hallway. They maneuvered around couples that stood along the walls of the restricted space until they reached a door.

Leaf opened it without instruction, and walked into a room that she assumed to be Gary's.

"Welcome home," he said, closing the door behind them and cutting off the volume of the music.

The room was very minimalist. Besides his bed, the space only held a white nightstand, a desk, and a white dresser. His bed sheets were black, and the bed itself was lined with white and grey pillows. A grey blanket was tossed carelessly over the end of the mattress. A light grey carpet covered the floor, and a few shelves covered the walls with various artifacts.

Gary's hand slipped slowly from around her waist, effectively melting her slightly. The place on his waist where his hand was situated suddenly felt cold.

"Let's get you a jacket," he said, putting his cup down on the desk and making his way to his closet.

Leaf stood in the center of the room, arms crossed once again. She glanced around the space briefly before her eyes fell on something draped over a chair. Her heart fluttered. His lab coat.

"Alright," he said, turning around after retrieving a jacket. He stopped speaking suddenly, and Leaf's eyes moved from the lab coat to his face.

A knowing smirk was already spreading across his lips, and he walked towards her in smug silence. He stopped directly in front of her and let the silence hang between them. After multiple seconds of loaded quietness, he held up the jacket in the limited distance between them, his attention to her face never altering.

She grabbed it quickly without breaking eye contact with him, but didn't put it on. She watched as his eyes noticeably trailed down to scan her lips before returning to her eyes.

"We can go, you know," he said, his voice low and smooth.

Their close proximity allowed for rapid conversation.

"Where?" Leaf uttered softly.

"To my lab."

She paused briefly. "Right now?"

"Yeah."

"Isn't it closed?"

"Yes."

Another slight pause. "How would we get there?" she asked.

"We'd drive," he said. His voice was quickly becoming unbearably attractive to her.

"You've been drinking," Leaf said matter-of-factly.

"You'd drive," Gary amended.

"I don't have my car."

"We'll take mine."

"No," Leaf said, regaining her resilience.

His eyebrow raised slightly before lowering again. "Why not?"

"How new is it?" Leaf asked.

"New as fuck."

"No," she insisted. "I'm not driving it."

A sly grin spread on his face. Leaf could tell he loved a challenge.

His chest was suddenly flush against hers. She could feel his hands lingering near her waist. She could feel his cheeks brush against hers as he looked down to whisper in her ear. His voice was smooth and thick, although it was no louder than a mumble.

"I know you want to."

Her breath hitched in her throat, and she said nothing in reply. His words were echoing in her ears. A part of her wanted him to say them again.

When she didn't reply, one of his hands snaked around her waist. Her stomach did somersaults.

"Don't you want to?" he murmured.

 _Stay strong, Leaf. Stay strong_.

"Just think about all of the—" he paused, " _science_."

That statement alone was enough to make her snap out of it. She pushed him away lightly, and he burst into cute, boyish laughter.

"Shut up, Gary," she said, finally putting on the jacket he'd given her. It was much bigger than she was, which made it much more comfortable.

"Come on, Leaf," he said, recovering. "It'll be fun. Live a little."

She watched as he moved to grab various cards out of the pocket of his lab coat.

"I'm going to wreck your car," she said.

"No you won't," he said, shoving the cards into his pants pocket. When she didn't reply, he turned around to face her. "Just think of this as a trust fall exercise."

"I hate trust fall exercises," Leaf immediately retorted.

"Do you hate new cars?"

She said nothing, and he tossed her his keys.

"Let's go."

* * *

"I'm going to wreck your car."

Leaf white-knuckle-gripped the steering wheel of Gary's sleek black car. He sat in the passenger seat and tried to calm her down.

"You're not going to wreck my car," he said.

"I am."

"No," he disagreed, "you're not. Just relax."

She eased into his smooth leather seats, her grip on the wheel loosening.

"Good," he said. "And now…" he lazily waved a hand in front of him. "Drive."

Leaf sighed before putting the car in reverse. She refused to move, her foot still on the brake. "I don't know where I'm going."

"That's why I'm here."

Leaf turned to look at him fully. For once, he sounded absolutely sincere. She let his words fuel her and began slowly backing out of the space in which he'd parallel parked.

The car drove so incredibly smoothly, Leaf couldn't resist comparing it to her relatively dated car back home. She felt as if his car had finally taken her into the 21st century.

"Nice, right?" Gary said.

"So nice."

Leaf passed through three green lights, but slowed when the fourth turned yellow.

"You could have made that," Gary commented.

"Thanks, Gary," Leaf replied.

"No problem." He paused for a few seconds before giving her more directions. "You're going to take a right at the next light. It's a straight shot from there."

"Okay."

Leaf could feel Gary staring at her as silence overtook them. She met his gaze, and immediately broke into a smile. His elbow was leaning against the window, and a smile tugged at his lips.

"What?" Leaf asked, giggles seeping into her voice.

"Oh," he said, shrugging. "You know." His smirk widened slowly, and Leaf could tell he had no intentions of finishing that thought.

Leaf stared at him, and multiple seconds of pure silence passed.

"What?" she asked again, feeling a mix of amusement and aggravation.

"Oh, you're just so…" He shrugged lazily before looking out the window. "It's hilarious."

She continued staring at him, watching him hide his smile and pretend that the their conversation was over.

He looked back at her innocently, a few fingers still covering his smile. "The light's green."

She rolled her eyes and pressed lightly on the gas pedal, making a right turn where he'd said to. They drove for a few more minutes and watched as the apartment buildings were replaced by various colleges and dorms belonging to the university. Leaf resisted the urge to look at the new buildings surrounding them, and instead listened to Gary's instructions.

"Alright, you can park right here," he said, pointing to a spot on the side of the street.

After parallel parking, the two exited the car and crossed the street. Leaf marveled at the buildings in front of her as they basked in the glow of the string lights that hung from one side of the street to the other. The roads weren't as empty as she expected them to be, probably because of the students that lived in the dorms a ways down the block.

Leaf shoved her hands in the pockets of the jacket Gary had given her. She hadn't gotten the chance to look at it earlier, but there was official-looking stitching over the front-left pocket. Though the words were upside-down and stitched in cursive, she was able to tell that it was his full name: _Gary Oak._

Oak. Leaf. She giggled to herself. How ironic.

"What?" he asked softly, as they approached the glass door to a building on the other side of the street.

She giggled again. "It's just cute."

"What's cute?" he asked, his voice low. He dug an ID card out of his pocket.

"Nothing," Leaf said, looking up at him.

He held her gaze for a moment, unable to prevent a grin from overtaking his lips. He shook his head and held his ID up to the card reader.

"Oh my god," he whispered to himself tiredly.

The reader beeped, and the door clicked, signaling that it was open. He turned the handle and let her inside.

"Are we supposed to be here?" Leaf questioned, walking carefully across the tiled floor.

He walked behind her, guiding her in the darkness once again by placing a hand on her waist. She hoped he couldn't tell how absolutely crazy that drove her.

"Debatable," he answered.

He led her to a door on the right wall and fumbled in his pocket for a key. After unlocking it, he turned the handle and let her inside.

Leaf stood in place as he closed the door behind them and made his way to the desk to turn on the lamp.

"This is my office," Gary said.

The lamp bathed the room in a warm glow and she immediately felt comfortable. The back wall was essentially a bookshelf, filled with volume after volume of studies regarding paleontology. His desk was covered with manilla folders, and she noticed various artifacts placed on surfaces around the room.

"Why do you get an office," she whispered, "if you're a lab assistant?"

He leaned against the desk, arms crossed. "I'm sort of like the chief lab assistant."

"Why?" Leaf questioned.

Gary shrugged nonchalantly. "I've been working here for a while."

She knew exactly why he brought her here. And she was ashamed to say that it was working. All of his research was laid out on the desk. All of his reports were readily available. His intelligence was on display.

He grinned, watching her squirm.

"I know why you brought me here," she said curtly. She set her jaw and stood against the wall.

He lifted an eyebrow in the most aggravatingly attractive way possible.

"It isn't working," she said firmly.

"Oh, I can _tell_ that it's working."

They locked eyes and said nothing more. The silence between them was deafening. Neither of them moved, and Leaf resisted the urge to memorize the shape of his lips.

"It isn't working," she said again, more for herself than for him.

"Right."

For the moment, she was safe. There was distance between them. But Leaf knew that the second he touched her, her resolve would absolutely crumble into nothing.

She could hear her heart pounding in her ears and the tension of the room tingle in her veins.

Against her innermost wishes, Gary pushed himself off of the desk and made his way towards her. He stood directly in front of her, as he did multiple times that night. She looked up into his face as he towered over, his hand pressed against the wall behind her.

Leaf watched as his lidded eyes stared at her lips. She watched as his black V-neck dipped and revealed his collarbone.

"We can go back if you want to," he murmured to her.

"I don't want to," Leaf admitted, feeling the walls she tried so hard to build up crumble down around her.

"Good," he whispered, brushing his nose against hers and capturing her lips with his own.

* * *

 **How was that? Did it make up for last time?**

 **To be honest, I've really put off writing this chapter because I didn't know what to do with Gary. But I think I like him! What do you think? Also, how is Leaf so far? Hopefully she's good, too.**

 **Thank you for all of the support, you guys. I'll see you soon.**


	8. Chapter 8

**You guys have waited for this chapter for a really long time. That's right. We're back to May and Drew. And to apologize for any disappointment with last chapter because it didn't continue from Chapter 6, I made this a bit longer and much much cuter than I originally intended. Sorry, I just really needed to say what happened to Gary and Leaf!**

 **Anyway, I've reread this chapter about twenty times and I can't read it any more, so I'm updating really early. Please tell me if I missed anything in editing!**

 **In reply to Forevershine: Yes, it was definitely supposed to be awkward! I'm really glad that resonated with you, even though it wasn't explicitly stated.** **Hopefully this chapter speaks to you, too!**

* * *

May's heart was pounding so intensely that she could feel her pulse in her fingertips. Her eyes were closed as she waited for contact, but it had yet to happen. She could feel his breath on her lips as his mouth hovered above hers, and the anticipation was practically killing her.

 _Please. Just do it already._

It suddenly occurred to her that their diagonal sitting situation greatly inhibited further proximity. In an effort to get closer, she elevated herself to her knees. Her forehead pressed against his, and Drew's head tilted back to maintain the relatively non-existent distance between their lips. May slowly swung her leg over his and sat in his lap, effectively earning a slow hiss from Drew. She was no longer leaning over him, his face level with hers.

She grabbed another handful of his hair, and he moved his right hand to tightly grip her waist. He lightly brushed his lips against hers, and she felt a wave of goosebumps race across her skin before he pulled away.

 _Please._

His top lip lightly grazed her bottom lip, and her hand moved down to the nape of his neck before sliding back up to grasp yet another fistful of hair. He responded by wrapping his right arm around her torso and pressing his fingers into her exposed midriff on the way back to her waist.

He removed his lip from hers, though he had yet to actually kiss her. It was driving her insane. But she knew better than to voice her frustrations because he would prolong it even more.

His other hand moved to cup the side of her face. Before she knew it, he captured her lips with his, exhaling incredibly slowly. She felt absolute euphoria. It only intensified when he did it again. And again. She could taste the alcohol on his lips and smell his cologne. Everything about him was warm. She breathed in between kisses, a light, airy sound leaking into her sigh.

May felt his mouth break into a grin under her lips.

"What was that?" he mumbled against her.

"Nothing," she breathed, her eyes still closed.

She pressed her lips against his once again, but was interrupted by short, breathy chuckles. She couldn't help but smile.

"It was definitely something," he said, amused.

His voice was sultry and smooth and incredibly attractive.

A short silence enveloped the space, only filled by their breathing.

"Do it again," he murmured to her.

May felt adrenaline pumping in her veins, electricity flowing on the surface of her skin.

"Make me," she whispered against his lips.

When he did nothing in response, May's eyes snapped open to meet his fiery green ones. His gaze was so intense that she knew he had already accepted her challenge. And would have no problem completing it.

"How many times?" he asked without breaking eye contact.

"Once," she said, her gaze steely. She was up for the challenge herself.

Without warning, he quickly pulled her torso closer to him, his eyes never leaving her face. A variation of the sigh escaped from her lips, and he exhaled slowly himself.

"Pick a higher number," he said, clenching his jaw.

She breathed deeply and tried to settle the frenzy of butterflies that fluttered in her stomach.

"Pick a number, Maple."

She caught her breath and looked him in the eyes. She'd never seen the color green be so positively smoldering.

"Ten," she whispered.

"Ten?"

"Yes."

"That's still too easy."

He didn't give her the chance to offer another number, as he started standing up. She rolled back onto her ankles before he lifted her up and placed on the bed behind them. The air was suddenly much cooler, as they weren't confined to such a small space.

The bed bounced lightly from her impact with it and she watched as he moved swiftly to his bedroom door, probably to lock it.

Before he reached it, it opened. The guy from before poked his head inside.

"Drew," he said.

"Not now, man," Drew said, casually attempting to push the door closed.

"We need your help with something," the guy pleaded, holding it open.

"It can wait until tomorrow." Drew pushed lightly on the door once again. "I'll do it tomorrow."

"The police are here," the guy said slightly above a whisper.

Drew paused briefly before deciding he had much more pressing concerns. "Let Gary handle it."

The guy put his foot in the doorway, preventing Drew from closing it. May could see Drew's mounting frustration through the tense muscles in his back.

"Gary isn't here. I looked everywhere. He isn't here."

"What?" Drew asked. "Where is he?"

"I don't know. They need to talk to you."

Drew paused, running his hands through his messy hair before turning to look back at May. He sighed before following the guy back to the living room.

"I'm going to kill him," he muttered out of frustration, leaving May behind on the bed.

She took a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair. Wow. She straightened her crop top and listened as Drew's voice carried through the hallway. She hadn't even noticed when the music was turned down.

"What seems to be the problem, officer?"

May opened the door and padded through the wooden hallway on her way back to the living room.

"Do you live here?" the officer asked.

"Yes."

May rounded the corner and spotted Drew's green hair by the doorway. The police officer looked relatively young and sort of apologetic.

"I'm going to have to ask you to shut this down," he said.

"Alright," Drew acquiesced.

"Too many noise complaints," the officer explained.

"I understand." Drew slightly raised his voice. "You heard him. Party's over."

The room was filled with non-distinct mumbling as people shuffled to gather their belongings. People were moving in every direction, crossing paths, and eventually filing out the door. May could see Drew having a mature discussion with the officer, nodding his head every so often until he shook his hand. The officer left with the crowd of people, and Drew turned to scan the room, running his hand through his hair.

His eyes fell on May, but his attention was quickly drawn to the people leaving, congratulating him on his party.

The brunette took the opportunity to freshen up in the bathroom. Assuming that their apartment was almost a mirror image of hers, because her room and Drew's shared a wall, she found it pretty quickly.

She flicked on the light switch and braced herself for her reflection but was surprised by how neat she still looked.

Her eyes still looked electrifying with the help of her mascara, and her lips were only slightly smudged. She ran her fingers through her hair a few times to neaten it. She smiled at her reflection. Nothing in her teeth.

After one final look, she turned off the light switch and made her way back to the living room. On the way, she almost collided with Drew who turned the corner of the hallway. He caught onto her waist to prevent the collision, his momentum spinning them around in the process.

"Hey," he said slightly above a whisper. May noticed how his eyes were immediately drawn to her lips.

"Hey," she said back just as softly.

"I, uh," he started. "I have to call cabs for a couple of people."

"Oh," she said.

"They're too wasted," he explained, his eyes flitting across her features.

"To do it themselves?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Wow."

"I know."

At some point during their conversation, he had pressed her against the wall. They said nothing in the darkness of the hallway. The building tension between them that had fueled their first encounter had simmered into almost nothing. The fire that was burning in May's veins wasn't so bright anymore.

May could see the length of his eyelashes as he gazed down at her. She kept her hands at her sides, afraid that they'd find their way around his neck. In his hair. His heated gaze bounced back and forth between her eyes before falling on her lips. His expression was unreadable.

A drunken voice called his name, but he didn't look up. May could feel something simmering in her bloodstream as she stood against the wall, bathed in his body heat in the middle of the hallway.

She could tell he felt it, too.

Drew clenched his jaw and exhaled before sliding his hand off of the wall, and turning away from her to follow the voice who'd called him.

May watched him go before turning and walking in the direction of his room. Her fingertips brushed against the wall as she went. She lightly pushed on the door to his room, and it slowly opened to her. The room was exactly as they'd left it. Fairly empty. So silent that it felt as though her ears were ringing.

She took a few soft steps towards the bed. The sheets were slightly wrinkled from where she lay before. Onto the bed she climbed, kicking off her shoes as she lifted her legs.

The sheets were cool against her skin. She sighed and nuzzled her face into his firm pillow, extending her legs and rolling onto her side. His scent was woven into the threads of the blankets, and she let it comfort her.

May could hear voices from the living room as they carried through the hallway.

"How much is the fare?" a feminine voice asked.

"Don't worry about it," Drew responded. "I'll cover it."

What was May doing here? Didn't she promise herself to never talk to him again? Didn't she move in a week ago? How had they gotten this far?

She wondered if any of that even mattered.

"Where do you live?" came Drew's voice again.

A different female voice began to answer when a male voice interrupted.

"I can take her home, man."

"Are you sure?" Drew asked.

"Yeah," replied the voice May couldn't recognize. "She's on the way. We can wait with her until her cab comes, too."

"Thanks," Drew said. "Let me know when you get home, alright?"

"Okay," came the second feminine voice.

"I'll see you guys later," Drew said in dismissal.

May could hear the handle of the front door turn before the door was tugged open.

"Alright," said the guy. "Great party, man."

"Thanks."

"Bye, Drew!" the two girls echoed.

"Bye."

The door shut and the apartment was quiet. May could hear Drew sigh softly from the living room. She heard the couch groan from under his weight.

Although May could have been entirely happy staying in his bed for the foreseeable future, she slowly sat up and slid off the mattress and onto her feet. She bent down to pick up her shoes before opening the door to his bedroom and softly padding down the hallway. Red solo cups were littered across every surface. Chairs were misplaced and furniture was moved.

He lifted his head from his hands when he heard her approach. His piercing green eyes struck her once again, as if it were the first time she'd ever seen them. Everything about him was absolutely beautiful.

He smirked as he watched her walk around the coffee table in complete silence to join him on the couch.

She sat down gently, relatively close to him and dropped her shoes on the floor next to her. Neither of them said a word, allowing silence to fill the empty space that existed between them.

The brunette brought her knees up to her chest.

"Hi," May finally said.

"Hi," he said with a smirk.

"That was a one time thing," she said abruptly.

He paused, probably trying to figure out what she meant by that, before running a hand through his hair. "You know, I was expecting you to say a couple of different things. But I mean, that definitely wasn't one of them."

She rested the side of her face against the back of the couch, using her hands as a pillow.

"Why?" he asked. He repositioned himself in the corner of the couch so that one arm was extended over the back of the couch, while the other was draped over the arm of it. "Is that how things work with you? Nothing happens twice?"

May shrugged lightly. Sleep was getting the better of her. "Some things are just one time things."

He raised his eyebrows, a smirk playing on his lips. "Like how our conversation the other night was a one time thing."

"Yes," she agreed. "Wait. No. This time I mean it."

"And you didn't mean it the other night."

May frowned. "I did mean it the other night."

Drew looked so smug that May had to actively prevent herself from clenching her fists. "But here we are."

"Yeah, but—"

"We're talking right now, Maple."

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "People change, Drew."

He brushed his nose with his forefinger to keep from laughing. "That was two nights ago."

"Right."

He lifted up his palm in confusion at her failure to see his logic. "You're basically the same person."

She rolled her eyes again. "Contrary to popular belief—"

He let out a short laugh. "Am I—" He paused slightly. "Am I the popular belief?"

"Yes," she answered seriously.

"Alright, good," he said, still holding back laughter. "Just checking."

"Okay." A slow smile spread on her face.

A grin spread across his lips as well. "Please continue."

"Okay," she said. "Contrary to popular belief, I am a completely different person."

He rubbed at his nose again, dodging laughter. A few breathy chuckles still managed to leak into his words. "What's so different about you?"

"A lot of things," she explained, scooting to sit a bit closer to him. She rested her head once again against the back of the couch, facing him. "Like tonight I drank gin. Two-Nights-Ago-May would never drink gin."

A smile tugged at the corners of Drew's mouth, and his eyes glanced at her lips for half a second. "But here we are."

"But here we are," she murmured back at him.

Drew leaned on the back of the couch with his elbow, resting his head on his fist. "So, because you drank gin tonight, that means you can keep your promise to never do anything with me ever again."

"Is that right?" he clarified at the same time she exclaimed, "It doesn't make sense when you put it that way!"

"That's the way you put it!" he said.

"You took _all_ of the logic out of it," May argued.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, a smile hiding behind his hand. "May—"

"You just said 'Goodbye, logic!' to _all_ of my logic."

Drew covered his face with his hand and shook with silent chuckles. He quickly became absolutely adorable when he tried not to laugh.

He took a deep breath and removed his hand, though the grin was still present on his face. "Alright. Okay. Let's try this again."

"Yes, please."

"Okay," he said, once again resting his head on his hand. "You're a different person than you were two nights ago."

"Yes," May agreed.

"Just wildly different," Drew elaborated.

"Totally."

"Because you drank gin."

"Yes."

"And you would have never done that before."

May could feel a fire lighting behind her eyes. "Never."

"And." He paused to gather his thoughts. "Because you're so different from who you were forty-eight hours ago—"

"Mmhmm," May encouraged.

"You are now able…" Another slight pause. "To keep promises. That Old You could have never kept."

"Exactly," she said.

She met his playful gaze, their eyes at war until he rubbed at his forehead with his hand.

"I think I've been talking to you for too long," he whispered.

"Why?" she asked, amused.

"Because that's starting to make sense."

May giggled at his evident despair, which caused a grin to cover his face.

"Okay," he said, removing his hand from his forehead. "Do you want to hear my argument?"

"Of course," she stated.

"Alright," Drew murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. Their faces were much closer together than they were at the start of their conversation. He could easily wrap an arm around her and pull her closer, but he didn't. "It's totally crazy, though. You'll never agree to it."

"Try me."

"My theory," Drew said, his gaze shifting between her eyes, "is that you're exactly the same."

A couple of seconds ticked by before May spoke. "That goes against everything I just said."

"I know."

A short silence hung between them. May watched as he analyzed her face. She could hear how absolutely quiet the apartment was. She could feel how absolutely alone they were.

"I have a question for you," Drew murmured.

"Okay," May said.

"If that were to happen again—"

"It won't. It won't happen again."

"If that were to happen again _right now._ " He paused, waiting for May to interject. She didn't. Her heart staggered in her chest. "Would you be against it?"

May returned the steely gaze he gave her. His green eyes were smoldering once again. "Right now?" she asked.

"Right now."

She froze, silence once again encompassing the room. She could feel herself softening under his gaze, the pressure of his question breaking her resolve. It was obvious they both knew her answer.

"No," she whispered. If he didn't hear her, it wouldn't inflate his ego.

He grinned slyly and waited a few seconds before speaking. "No?"

"No."

"You wouldn't mind it."

She shook her head, her gaze flirtatious. "Nope."

He nodded slowly, pleasantly lost in thought.

May smiled against her will. It felt like they were having pillow-talk, though they were sitting on his sofa. "What?"

He shrugged and shook his head slightly. "I just wanted to know."

"Well now you do," she said.

Drew rested his head on his fist again. "And here we are."

May laughed, the force of her giggles causing her to lean forward towards Drew. He sat in place and watched her laugh. When she looked up into his face, she was melted by his soft gaze.

"And here we are," she said.

She leaned back against the couch a bit closer to him, taking in his features. His eyes skimmed across her face and the apartment was once again quiet.

"You look really tired," Drew murmured.

"I am," she admitted softly.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" he asked her.

May bit her lip to keep from smiling. "No, I think that if we make it to your door, I can… find my way from there."

He stared at her for a few seconds before getting off of the couch. "Alright. Let's get you home."

May picked up her shoes from the living room floor and carried them to his front door. He opened it for her and she entered the hallway, turning around to face him.

Drew leaned against the door frame.

She looked up into his face and matched his gaze.

"Drew," she said.

He hummed lazily in response.

"That was still only a one time thing," she laminated.

"One?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"That's weird," he said.

"Why?" She immediately regretted asking the question as soon as the word left her lips.

"Because I _distinctly_ remember you saying ten."

May's face burned as she remembered the heated moment they'd shared earlier.

"Drew—" she started.

"Goodnight, Maple," Drew said, a sly smile on his face.

She turned around quickly in heated embarrassment, her hair swaying behind her. She could hear his breathy chuckles as the door to his apartment clicked closed.

* * *

 **And there you have it.**

 **Good? Too much? How do you feel? Are you happy with me again? Let me know!**

 **I actually wasn't planning on this chapter going this way AT ALL. The beginning was going to be entirely different. But as an apology I decided that I would amp up the steam a little. Let me know if worked!**

 **Thanks for all of the support, you guys. You've all been wonderful.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello, my readers! I am so sincerely sorry that I haven't updated in a month, but I've been doing SO much planning. I'd originally only planned how the events were going to unfold until what happened in Chapter 8. So I was kind of in a "now what?" phase. But now I know what. And I've planned the end of the story. And oh, man I can't wait until we get there! But for now we are only on Chapter 9.**

 **This chapter is really important because it puts a lot of things in place. I had to do a lot of thinking and make sure I was absolutely certain about the plot before posting this because I was afraid of writing myself into a hole. I just want to make sure things are consistent and make sense. Remember: plot holes are worse than potholes.**

 **Anyway, thank you to everyone who favorited and followed and reviewed! Every little bit means so much to me and is honestly my motivation for continuing this.**

 **To the guest who just discovered my story last chapter: Thank you so much for reading it! I just reread your review and it made me smile. I'm so glad you can appreciate what I've put into this! Hopefully you continue to read.**

 **To Forevershine: Hahahaha I'm so relieved that you survived the last chapter (even if your mind didn't). Maybe you can continue your survival streak and survive this one, too. Good luck! You might need it (and I'm sorry beforehand).**

 **To the Guest who reviewed Chapter 1: Thanks for reading this! Hopefully you've gotten this far by now. I know I didn't update this as soon as you hoped, but I'm here now! Welcome aboard.**

 **To the other Guest who reviewed Chapter 1: I'm actually really glad you reviewed because you reminded me of the humor I put into Chapter 1. I think I need to put more of it into the story because I might've forgotten a little!**

 **Without further ado, and to make up for my absence, here is the longest chapter I've written of this story to date.**

* * *

May and Leaf sat in complete silence, the low buzz of morning traffic echoing through the walls of the apartment. Steam emanated from their polka-dotted mugs, as they sat together on May's couch, cross-legged and facing each other.

May watched as her friend stared into her tea and gathered her thoughts.

"So, what happened after you bumped into the bookcase?" May asked her friend.

"All of the books fell out," Leaf said without looking up.

"Oh."

May looked at the mug situated in Leaf's lap, her gaze returning to her friend's face when she spoke.

"Well, I mean half of them did," Leaf amended, her eyes still fixated on her drink.

"Oh," May said with light surprise. "That's… I mean, that's good." Leaf said nothing, so May continued speaking. "That it was only half of all of the…" She trailed off and cleared her throat.

Leaf suddenly freed a hand from gripping the coffee cup and covered her face with it.

"Well it could have been worse!" May encouraged. "He could have had one of those really big wall bookcases."

Her friend didn't move, and May's heart sank.

"Oh my god," she said. "He did, didn't he?"

Leaf sighed in response.

"Okay," May cautioned, unsure of what to say to comfort her friend. "It could have been filled with all of his work and papers—"

"Oh my god," Leaf mumbled.

"Wait," the brunette said. "Really?"

"May."

"Okay, I'm sorry."

May chewed on her lip as she watched her friend reimagine the events of last night.

"This is _horrible_ ," Leaf groaned. "And everything was going so _well_."

"Well, what did he say?" May questioned, feeling entirely helpless.

Her friend sighed again before speaking. "He said that he would fix it in the morning."

"See, Leaf!" May exclaimed. "You have nothing to worry about!"

"Yeah," Leaf agreed with a sigh. She paused, a grin overcoming her features. She looked up at May with a playful glint in her eye. "I only liked him for his lab coat anyway."

The two girls filled the apartment with laughter. When their giggles had died, Leaf continued speaking.

"So," she said, "how's your cute neighbor friend?"

May immediately stopped laughing and turned red. "He's fine."

Leaf lifted her eyebrows, smirking deviously. "Just fine?"

"Yes."

"You got home really late last night."

The lighter brunette gripped her mug tightly. "You got home after me!"

"We talked about me already!" Leaf replied. "It's your turn! Did something happen?"

May said nothing in response, but her expression gave her answer away.

Leaf's face lit up in recognition. "Something _did_ happen!"

"Leaf, please—"

"Oh my god," her friend said. "Did he kiss you?"

May bit her lip, instantly remembering everything in detail.

Leaf gasped incredibly loudly, and May braced herself for the impact.

"Please don't—"

"Okay, I won't," Leaf said, holding her breath.

May watched her carefully as she failed to contain her excitement. She could see the wheels in Leaf's mind turning.

"Is he a good kisser?" Leaf asked quietly, her eyes bright. She loved receiving new information, which unfortunately meant she loved hearing details about May's love life.

May rested her chin in her palm, her splayed fingers covering her mouth and the tip of her nose. She watched as her friend practically exploded with anticipation of her answer. The lighter brunette remembered the moment she shared with him yesterday and couldn't prevent a smile from reaching her eyes.

She nodded slowly and giggled at her friend's immediate squealing.

"I _knew_ you didn't hate him," Leaf said. She pointed at May briefly. "I _knew_ it."

May sighed and looked down at her lap. "I tried. I really did."

Leaf put a reassuring hand on her friend's knee, and May looked up to meet her eyes. "I know you tried your best. But he's just a cute—" she paused briefly, "very green guy. And there's not much you could've done about that."

May smiled. "Yeah, the green, cute ones. You've got to watch out for those."

Leaf's giggles seeped into her words. "The cute ones, you can handle."

May furrowed her eyebrows and nodded in agreement. "Oh, yeah, totally. But the green ones?"

Leaf shook her head with sympathy. "That's dangerous territory."

The two amused girls paused for a few moment, lost in thought.

"Why is he so green, though?" Leaf asked suddenly.

"I don't know!" May exclaimed. She readjusted her legs, sitting on one but letting the other hang over the edge of the couch.

"Did you ask him?" Leaf wondered.

"Of course I did," her friend replied.

"What did he say?"

"He said," May began, "it's genetic."

Leaf immediately frowned, blinking in confusion. "That isn't possible." She paused, her eyes calcuolatory. "Is it?"

"I didn't think so," May admitted. "But even his eyelashes are green, Leaf."

Leaf looked absolutely puzzled. "But scientifically—"

Two quick knocks on the door interrupted their conversation. May turned her head back to look at the door, before turning back around and facing Leaf. Their faces were marked with utter fear and surprise.

May carefully lifted herself off of the couch and placed her mug down on the coffee table before walking in the direction of the door. Two more knocks echoed through the apartment before May reached the lock and turned it.

She opened the door to reveal none other than her neighbor.

Gary was staring at the ground when the door opened, and lifted his head, eyebrows raised, to meet May's eyes.

"Hey," he said. "I'm, uh, looking for someone named Leaves?"

May suppressed laughter and side-stepped, allowing Gary to see into her apartment. A smirk instantly came over his face when his eyes locked onto Leaf, who had failed to respond.

Gary burst into boyish laughter in the doorway, almost doubling over.

"I told you not to call me that," came Leaf's approaching voice.

Even though she sounded annoyed, May could hear the hint of amusement in her friend's voice. She moved into the kitchen to avoid getting in the middle of their conversation.

Gary leaned on the doorframe, smirking down at the girl standing in front of him. "I know you like it."

"I don't like it."

Gary said nothing, but continued staring at her with his heart-melting smirk.

May could tell that her friend's armor was crumbling around her. Leaf didn't just like Gary for his lab coat, despite what she said. May took the opportunity to retreat back to her bedroom, letting Leaf handle the situation on her own.

"What are you even doing here?" Leaf murmured.

May entered her bedroom and shut the door behind her. Unfortunately, she could still hear every word of their conversation.

"I'm picking you up," Gary said, smoothly.

"For what?"

"A field trip." There was a slight pause before he continued speaking. "I mean, it mainly involves cleaning up my office, but… it's still a field trip."

"I thought you did that already," said Leaf.

Gary scoffed. "Without you? No, thanks."

Leaf took a few seconds to respond. "But May needs me to—"

"No I don't!" called May from her bed.

"Wow," Leaf said immediately. "Thanks, May."

There was a slight break in their conversation.

"So, are you coming?" Gary asked.

Leaf sighed. "Yeah. I'll go change."

May's heart halted in her chest. Leaf was coming her way. She was going to kill her.

Before May could think of a possible defense, Leaf entered the room, her eyes shooting daggers.

May immediately smiled to lighten Leaf's mood. It didn't work. Her friend unzipped her suitcase to search for clothes.

"We'll talk later, May," she said under her breath.

After changing quickly and ruffling her hair, Leaf exited the room and closed the door behind her.

"Ready?" Gary's voice asked.

"Yes."

"Alright."

May heard the handle turn and the heaviness of the door as it swept across the floor.

"Have you ever seen the university?" Gary asked.

"Nope," Leaf said.

"Really?"

The door closed shut, but she could still hear their conversation echo through the halls.

"Yep."

"Not even on a tour?"

"No, Gary."

Their footsteps resounded through the hall as they descended down the staircase.

Gary hummed, their faint voices still carrying up the staircase, even though May could tell they were in the lobby.

"What does that mean?" Leaf's muted voice asked.

"It doesn't mean anything."

May could hear her friend's argumentative tone before their voices disappeared entirely.

May sighed to herself. _I'm such a good friend._

* * *

Gary drove to the lab this time, switching gears as often as possible. The streets of the city looked infinitely different when they weren't lit up by streetlights. They seemed welcoming and honest, while the night held millions of guilty possibilities.

They parallel parked in almost the same spot and exited Gary's modern, black car. Leaf walked around to the driver's side and waited next to him as the car that was racing down the street passed by.

As they entered the lab itself, Leaf realized that the atmosphere inside was different as well. It wasn't as saturated with tension as it was the night before. She could see various pieces in wooden cases, and wooden cabinets situated beneath the counters.

Gary lightly held onto her fingertips as they made their way slowly through the space. Leaf distinctly remembered that his office was on the right of the room somewhere, yet they were walking to the back.

"Where are we going?" she wondered aloud.

"On a tour," he said.

"Don't we have to clean your office?" she asked.

"I did it already."

Gary led her out the back door of the lab and into a courtyard. The area was completely enclosed by multiple other buildings and was filled with trees. The trees themselves were landlocked by metal benches that curved around the base of the trees. The ground was paved with cobblestone and little rows of bushes sat at the foundation of the buildings. Her view of the courtyard quickly vanished as they entered another building.

Her footsteps immediately echoed in the hallway when she stepped onto the solid linoleum flooring. The building was entirely quiet. The halls were entirely empty.

He led her around a corner. Still no one in sight.

"Are we supposed to be in here?" Leaf asked quietly.

"Probably not," he answered, the bass in his voice bouncing off of the walls.

"Why do you _always_ do this?"

He chuckled, looking back to face her briefly. "You met me yesterday."

"Well," Leaf said, agitated, "100% of the time that I've known you, we've done something like this."

He led her to a door and scanned his card in the key-reader, causing it to unlock.

"I can't argue with those facts," he said.

The door opened to an empty lecture hall. Leaf stopped in her tracks, allowing the door to click softly behind her. Endless rows led down to the end of the classroom where there was nothing but an empty podium. She'd never been in a classroom so big before. She could feel the emptiness of the space pressing on her chest.

"What?" Gary asked.

"This is huge," she whispered in awe. Leaf stared down at the base of the room, where the aisle sloped before her. She could imagine a renowned professor teaching confidently at the end of it, explaining everything she would ever need to know.

Gary watched her, a whisper of a smile pulling at his lips. He looked away quickly and began moving into the last row of seats in the room.

"Come on. Let's take a seat in the back."

"Why?" Leaf wondered.

Gary looked back at her with feigned seriousness. "So we don't disturb the class."

Leaf rolled her eyes. "What class is it?"

He continued down the aisle, taking a seat almost in the corner of the room. "Probably thermodynamics or some shit."

Leaf took the seat next to him, pulling her knees to her chest. The room was so quiet, she could hear his breathing. She could smell the natural scent that was embedded in his skin.

"Are you in school?" Gary asked Leaf, his voice hushed.

"Yeah," she said.

"What are you studying?"

"Biology," she answered, making eye contact with him.

His face was expressionless. His gaze lazily dragged to her lips before he turned away and ran his left hand through his hair.

"I see what you mean," he said.

"What?" Leaf asked. About biology? Did she look like she studied it?

He exhaled. "That was pretty hot."

Leaf felt heat mark her cheeks but attempted to ignore it.

"And you made fun of me yesterday," Leaf said smugly.

"Yeah," Gary retorted quickly, "because paleontology isn't a sexy science." He looked back at her. "It's the only thing about me that isn't attractive."

"What—" Leaf began to argue.

"But _somehow_ ," Gary continued. "it just instantly turns you on."

Leaf made heated eye contact with him, and a smirk covered his lips.

"What's the sexiest science, then?" she asked. She hated how sultry her voice sounded, but she couldn't help it.

"Definitely chemistry," he replied, not breaking eye contact.

Leaf didn't reply.

"But biology is a close second," he mumbled.

Leaf instinctively closed her eyes and exhaled when his lips touched hers. He angled his head to deepen their slow kiss.

She pulled away. "Gary," she said.

"What?" he asked, his voice more attractive to her than any science could ever be.

"I don't live here," she said breathily.

His lips hovered near hers. "In the city?" He kissed her again.

"Yes," she answered. He was clouding her ability to think logically. All she could think about were the files on his desk and his stupid lab coat.

"When are you leaving?" Gary asked.

Leaf was practically reading his lips with her own. When _was_ she leaving? She had entirely forgotten.

"Um," she said, struggling to remember.

He kissed her again deeply, and she almost gave up all hope for recovering the lost information. She was lucky that the armrests between the seats acted as a barrier between them.

Gary's lips formed a smirk beneath hers. "Don't remember?"

"No," she whispered immediately.

Leaf forced herself to think. Chemistry. Biology. Pheromones. Tomorrow.

"Chemistry," she said.

 _Shit_.

"Wait, no," she amended. "Tomorrow." She pulled away completely and looked him in the eyes. "I'm leaving tomorrow."

Gary returned her stare and frowned. "Chemistry?"

"You were _distracting_ me," Leaf argued.

"Are you coming back?" Gary asked.

"Yeah," Leaf said, still breathless. "Probably."

"Then, I'll just see you when you get back." Gary's eyes searched hers briefly before he leaned back in to reach her lips. "And I'll take you on a full tour next time."

* * *

Leaf returned hours later and recapped her day before packing her belongings. After a few hours of avoiding the topic, May had begun to do the same. She folded her clothes and tossed them into a suitcase as she listened to May speak.

"I don't know what to do, Leaf," she said. "I've been thinking about it all day."

"I think you should tell him what you told me," her friend replied.

"What if that ruins… _everything_?" May asked. She looked down at her hands. "I can't do that."

Leaf tossed one final article of clothing into her suitcase and put her hands on her hips. "May, you just told me—"

"I _know_ —" May replied. "I know. I'm just really—"

The sound of a door opening on the other side of the wall stopped the brunette from speaking. She froze as she listened to her neighbor enter his room.

"Maple, are you home?" came Drew's muffled voice through the wall.

May immediately made panicked eye contact with Leaf, who had frozen while zipping her suitcase.

"Um," May said loudly, mulling over her answer.

Leaf brought her hand to her forehead and stood up, causing the brunette to realize her mistake.

"I mean," May continued, "yes. I am."

"Meet me downstairs in five?" he asked.

May shrugged at Leaf in absolute desperation.

"Yes!" Leaf mouthed.

"Okay," May agreed.

"See you then."

May's mind immediately started reeling. She'd had no time to prepare. She quickly got off of her bed and dragged her friend into the living room.

"Leaf," she whispered, "what do I do?"

"Just tell him the truth," Leaf replied. "Tell him how you feel."

May could feel worry etch itself into her features. "But, Leaf, I—" May paused, afraid that she was about to make a horrible mistake.

"You have to tell him," Leaf said. "For both of you."

She nodded, swallowing her apprehension. She hoped her friend was right.

* * *

May walked down the front steps of the apartment building and into the promised darkness of the evening. The sounds of bustling cars and honking horns embraced her as the wind swept at her hair. Her eyes were locked on Drew as she descended the stairs, and she watched as he turned to face her.

Her hand lightly grazed the railing as she made her way to where he stood on the plateau of the staircase, before the steps continued to the sidewalk.

He gazed down at her through long eyelashes, and although it was dark, she could still see the beauty behind his eyes.

Suddenly, she felt absolutely breathless.

"Hi," she almost whispered.

He grinned softly, anticipating her greeting. "Hi."

A car sped by the sidewalk. Then another.

Drew leaned against the side of the concrete steps, and May stood before him.

"What brings you here?" she asked.

May could tell he was trying not to laugh. He shrugged nonchalantly and gave his reply.

"Things. People."

"Oh, yeah, me too," May said, nodding. "That's why I'm here. You know, people—"

Drew smirked. "Things."

"Things," May agreed. "Those, too."

Drew nodded slowly, his soft green eyes watching as she tottered briefly from toe to heel.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yes," she said with emphasis and making eye contact.

"Are you sure?" he reiterated, lifting an eyebrow.

"Yes," she replied, much more softly.

He watched her intently with his beautiful green eyes and she stood before him in silence. May could tell he wasn't necessarily a quiet person, but there was an always an air of silence when she was with him. She wondered why that was.

"What did you want to talk about?" she breathed.

His heavily lidded eyes searched her face. He shrugged slightly and shook his head, his gaze intense yet soft.

Her heart felt so absolutely full that tears pricked at her eyes. She felt a feeling that she could only describe as completion, but didn't articulate it. She didn't think she needed to.

Her mind told her that she was looking at a person she'd known for her entire life. That was the only way someone could feel so much like coming home.

She took a step towards him and his hand slowly circled around her waist, his fingers gripping at the material about her hip. May automatically reached up to touch the back of his neck, and he leaned down slightly to run the tip of his nose along her jawline. Along her neck. Along her collarbone.

Her fingers grasped at strands of hair at the back of his neck. In response, he pressed his forearm against the small of her back in an effort to bring her closer.

His lips touched her skin, and she closed her eyes immediately to revel in the feeling of his touch. His lips tugged at her neck, no doubt leaving marks. She breathily released the emotion she felt in the pit of her stomach. Drew exhaled hotly against her skin, his open mouth coming to a close at the base of her jaw.

May tried her best to prevent him from clouding her mind.

"Drew," she breathed.

"Hmm?" he hummed against her skin.

She imagined mornings of soft kisses and tangled sheets. She envisioned nights filled with gentle touches. She imagined herself telling him the words that always threatened to slip from her lips. She envisioned bundling the passions and affections she felt and expressing them in a way he could understand.

"I'm scared," she said slightly above a whisper.

Drew's lips immediately disconnected from her neck and he looked her in the face. "Of what?"

She ended their eye contact almost as immediately as it started. "I'm afraid of…" she paused slightly to gather her thoughts and shook her head. "I don't want to get hurt."

His hands held her gently, and his voice softened with concern. "I wouldn't… Why would I hurt you?" He lifted her chin with his thumb and forefinger. "I won't hurt you."

She breathed deeply to keep her emotions at bay. "But you're leaving."

He was silent.

"You're leaving soon," she said. Her eyes searched his.

"I'm not leaving tomorrow," he said, a hand still gripping her waist.

"You almost left this week," she reminded him.

He clenched his jaw, but said nothing.

"I'm scared," May said again. She looked away from his pleading green eyes. "I think it would hurt less if… we didn't."

When he didn't reply immediately, the brunette continued speaking. "You know what they say: the bigger they are, the harder they fall—" She felt her cheeks grow hot from her absent rambling. She couldn't bare to look at his face to see his expression, so she pressed her cheek against his chest instead. "And if things get bigger, then… I don't want to fall much harder than this."

The sounds of the city nightlife filled their silence. The wind whipped at her skin where she wasn't blocked by Drew's presence.

"Alright," Drew agreed.

She looked up at him once again and his eyes bore into hers.

"Alright?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," he said. He paused. "This is just bad timing."

May's heart ached in her chest. "Right."

Drew refused to release his grip on her, gazing at her softly.

"Can I have one for the road?" he asked her.

May blinked in confusion. "One what?"

A slow smile graced his lips and touched the corners of his eyes. "A kiss, Maple."

"Oh," she said, her cheeks heating. "I don't know." She glanced at his lips. "I think that would defeat the purpose of… everything."

"Just one," he said smoothly, refusing to take his eyes off of her. "Just to get it out of our systems." He touched his forehead against hers. "Just a one time thing."

Her resolve crumbled around her and she closed her eyes, embracing the feeling of his breath against her lips.

"Okay," May whispered.

Drew said nothing in response, letting her simmer in the tender silence between them.

She felt his lips brush lightly against her cheek before they dragged painfully slowly to her collarbone. She ignored the sounds of passing cars and instead concentrated on the location where his lips had stopped. He sighed against her before removing his lips from her skin entirely.

May stood still, her nerve endings igniting under the traces of his touch. She had little time to prepare herself before his nose brushed against hers and his lips made contact with her own. A hand gently grazed her cheek, and she let one of her hands climb up to his shoulder. Each kiss was slow and drawn out, but each reconnection he had with her lips was hastened.

Her emotions bubbled in her throat before spilling from her open mouth with a fleeting sigh. Drew's response was immediate, his hold around her tightening and a hand pressing deeply into her shoulder blades.

His kisses grew ferocious, and he leaned into her. She quickly reciprocated, leaning back and gripping the sides of his face with both hands.

She couldn't tell what she was feeling; it was off her radar. Never before had she been subjected to such absolute passion. She spent every waking second in his arms committing each fleeting moment to memory. She tried to burn the shape of his lips into her mind so she would never struggle to remember how they felt.

May could feel their kiss slowing slightly, and she let her hand crawl up to feel his tresses in her fingers for what could possibly be the last time. Drew's fingertips traced the line down her back through the cloth of her shirt before stopping to wrap around her waist.

Their lips shared slow, meaningful touches, each one slightly shorter than the last. Too soon, May knew they had come to their final kiss, and she invested herself fully in that moment as long as she could before their lips parted with a chirp.

Suddenly, there was cold empty space between them. Drew's forehead never left hers. May  
cleared her throat lightly and pursed her lips to cherish the feeling. She could feel his breaths against her skin, and a slight hesitation on his part to kiss her one last time, but he decided against it.

Drew took multiple breaths before speaking.

"So that's it," he murmured, his forehead still against hers. "We're officially neighbors."

May's heart was full almost to the point of bursting. She kept asking herself how he was able to capture her heart in virtually no time at all. She remembered how his green eyes had paralyzed her the very first time she'd seen them. And how they haven't stopped paralyzing her since.

But they had to stop.

"Yeah," she said, laboring to keep her emotions from spilling in front of him.

Silence lingered between the two of them, and May felt as though Drew's hands were burning her skin. He must have felt the same sensation because his arms slowly withdrew to his sides. His forehead slipped from hers as well.

"Do you…" Drew started, "want me to walk you home?"

May shook her head softly, eyes still averted. "I don't really want to go home right now."

She looked up into face but avoided his eyes, afraid that they would convince her that she was wrong. Afraid they'd convince her that her logic was flawed and any ounce of time they had left together before the inevitable would be entirely worth it. But she knew doing this now would save her from greater heartache and complications when the time came.

"Alright," he said. He locked eyes with her briefly before turning away from her. "I'll see you later." He abruptly stopped his journey to the door of the building when he heard her speak.

"I hope you can figure things out," she said quietly, timidly meeting his eyes.

Drew stared at her, entirely stoic, before nodding slightly. He said his next words so softly she had to read his lips.

"Me too."

He averted his gaze mid-sentence and climbed the last few steps to the glass door. He opened it nonchalantly, allowing just enough space for himself to slip through. May watched as the first set of doors closed slowly behind him, while the second set welcomed him inside. She saw him lift his hand to run it through his hair as he approached the steps, and she turned around to face the street before she could memorize more of him.

Her eyes stared emptily at the pavement, her mind a whir of emotions and memories. She'd never connected with anyone as quickly as she did with Drew, and the thought of that terrified her. She was terrified to build something so strong on such an unsteady foundation. She feared investing herself in something that potentially had no future.

She cleared her throat in an attempt to alleviate the cluster of feeling in the pit of her stomach, which only caused tears to cling to her eyes. They rolled down her cheeks and off of her face, darkening the pavement at her feet.

* * *

 **Right. Sorry about that.**

 **But I had to.**

 **In regards to the writing, I feel like parts of this read too quickly? Please let me know if you felt the same way so I can go back and make changes. Also, just please don't hate me in general lol.**

 **Let me know what's on your mind! How did this make you feel? Let me know what you'd like to see more of and I'll keep it in mind for the future.**

 **Stay along for the ride, you guys. I promise it's worthwhile.**

 **Remember to review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone! I'm back! The story isn't over yet!**

 **I'm finding that I'm making these updates longer and longer. I guess to make up for all of the time that I spend NOT updating (sorry) I've been so ridiculously busy.**

 **Actually, I really like this chapter. I think it's really nice, and I hope you'll like it, too.**

 **In response to Kai: Hi! I don't think I've seen a review from you before, so thanks for the review! Thank you for all of the reassurance. I've definitely taken all of it into consideration and slow things down a bit without completely changing my the pace of the plot itself. Thank you thank you! I hope you like this chapter, too.**

 **In response to Twinkshine2: Oh, no! I'm sorry you felt that way! Keep reading. I promise you'll feel better. And I'll try not to break your heart so much (but i can't promise anything at all lol)**

 **Alright you guys! I won't keep you waiting anymore. Thanks again for all the feedback in the last chapter and trusting me to pull through with this story.**

* * *

Drew leaned over the railing of his balcony, a beer in his hand. He tried to embrace the silence of the city, though it was never truly silent. He would rather listen to the speeding cars than acknowledge the thoughts that lived in his mind. His initial instinct was to avoid his room, as they would only be separated by cardboard walls, and though sometimes that seemed like too much of a barrier, tonight it was not enough. So he was on the balcony. Where he had been for hours. And now it was probably two in the morning.

His eyes blankly followed the passing cars below as his mind reeled with her. The smell of her skin. How soft she was. That look she gave him. The one that captured him in her deep blue eyes and convinced him that she could read his mind. That other look she gave him. The one that distracted him so fully that his thoughts devolved into absolutely nothing. The one that seeped into her voice, thickening it with something he had to actively fight to resist. He tipped the bottle back and allowed the cold mouth of the glass to erase the memory of her lips.

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. This wasn't normal. He shouldn't be so tangled in the essence of her. They've had maybe less than ten conversations. He hadn't even known her for a month. This didn't happen to people. He knew that. But he also knew that it was happening to them.

Drew heard the front door of the apartment open, then promptly close. Probably Gary. He heard the sounds of keys jingling, then crashing as they hit the counter. He heard footsteps retreat in the direction of Gary's room before slowing and stopping completely.

"What's…" came Gary's wary voice. "What's up, man?"

He joined him on the balcony, though Drew refused to turn around to face him. He said nothing in response.

Gary accepted his roommate's silence as a valid answer and moved to lean next to him on the railing.

Drew quietly handed him his beer, and Gary took it, lifting the bottle to his lips and taking a swig. He rested his arm on the railing for a bit before taking another drink and handing it back to Drew.

Drew took it and stared down at the concrete steps below them. He could see where he stood with her hours before.

"How long have you been out here?" Gary asked.

Drew shrugged, his gaze still locked onto the street. "A couple minutes."

"I don't know why I thought it was hours," Gary said, beckoning for the bottle.

Drew took a swig before passing the half empty bottle to his roommate. "Yeah, I don't know."

Seconds passed before Gary spoke. "I thought you had work tomorrow."

"I do," Drew said.

He saw Gary nod in his periphery.

The two watched as the stoplight below turned green and the cars purred to life. They continued down the street in a line of delayed elongation.

"Is this about Cottontail?" Gary asked before taking a sip of the beer. He attempted to give Drew the bottle back, but he declined.

Drew smirked briefly at the nickname before his thoughts erased the slight grin on his face. "Yeah," he admitted.

Gary said nothing. He waited patiently for Drew to explain the problem. Drew knew that if he chose not to talk about it at all, Gary would still stand with him in comfortable silence. "Talking" was something that neither of them were good at.

"She told me that she's scared," Drew finally said.

"Of what?" Gary asked, immediately skeptical.

"She said that I'd break her heart," Drew mumbled. Gary said nothing, so he continued speaking. "I didn't even know I had her heart. But she said I'd break it."

Gary turned to face Drew completely. "Why?"

"Because I'm moving," Drew said plainly. He watched the light below turn yellow, then red.

Gary stared at him, then turned to look back out at the urban view before them. He drank from the bottle before lowering it and swirling the remaining contents in the glass briefly.

"She kind of has a point," he said. He cleared his throat slightly. "All your shit is in boxes."

"I know—"

"Alright, so…" Gary trailed off, shrugging. "You can't really blame her. For being scared like that."

"I don't," Drew said. He attempted to wedge his foot in the spaces of the railing in front of him. "It's just a shitty situation."

Gary emptied the beer bottle and rested his arm against the railing, letting the glass hang over the edge.

"Does she…" Gary started, "want to stay friends?"

"She wants to be neighbors," Drew said.

"What the fuck does _that_ mean?"

Drew shook his head and shrugged, defeated. He'd been trying to figure that out himself.

"Being friends and being neighbors isn't mutually exclusive," Gary stated.

"I know."

"Are you just never going to talk again?"

Drew shifted his standing position and sighed, squinting up at the moon. "I don't know." He paused, then looked down at his shoes. "She told me she wants me to figure things out."

Gary shook his head and stared down at the pavement. "That's shitty, too."

"I know."

Gary leaned back from the railing and patted Drew on the back. "Don't think about it too much, man. Whatever happens happens."

"Thanks."

Gary turned around to reenter the apartment. "And go to bed," he said without looking back. He stepped over the threshold and made his way to his room. His voice echoed through the apartment and out the open door of the balcony. "You better not be out there in five minutes."

Drew chuckled. "Alright, man."

He listened as the door to Gary's bedroom creaked open and swiftly closed.

Gary was a logical person and favored realism over optimism. He'd always tell Drew the truth rather than what Gary thought he wanted to hear. And that was usually what Drew needed. He did feel a lot better. It was therapeutic to voice his thoughts out loud, even if his problems weren't entirely solved.

Drew wondered what had caused May to say that to him at all. It came out of absolutely nowhere. Or maybe she had warned him before, with her promise of everything being a one-time-thing.

He sighed. But even after she told him she wanted to stop, she wholeheartedly melted into their kiss. He remembered the sensation of her long, dainty fingers on the back of his neck, weaving their way through his hair. He remembered the light, airy sound of the sighs he drew from her lips _every_ _fucking time_ he kissed her.

Those sighs. They drove him absolutely crazy and threatened his self-control. Did he have to do something specific to trigger them? Did she do that whenever she was kissed by anyone, or was it exclusive to him? Drew knew she was too stubborn to do it when he asked her to, so his only option was to make it happen involuntarily. He longed to experiment. He knew he could easily make it happen more than ten times, but now he would never get the opportunity.

Drew ran his hands through his hair and thought about their conversations. The way she leaned forward when she laughed. How he could never know what she would possibly say next. How she would look up at him through her long eyelashes and say something so softly that it would lull him to unresponsive silence.

"Go the fuck to sleep, Drew!" called Gary's voice from inside the apartment.

Drew laughed out loud at the unexpected interruption of his thoughts.

He entered the apartment and closed the door behind him. "Alright. Goodnight, man."

* * *

Drew turned off his alarm as it rang at exactly 5:30 and groaned, sitting up slowly. Gary was right. He should have gone to bed earlier.

Shrugging from his blankets, he made his way to the shower, allowing the hot water to coax the sleep out of his muscles. He ran his hands through his soaking hair and smirked; he couldn't believe she thought it was dyed. What kind of person would dye their hair permanently green? Drew let the water heat until it was borderline scalding before stepping out of the shower. His right hand ran down his face, clearing the dripping water from his eyes.

He wrapped himself in a towel and entered the dark hallway of the apartment. He preferred the apartment to look like this. Dark before the dawn. Quiet before the rush hour. Repaved.

Then there were voices. Faint voices coming from the direction of his room. He entered the space, closed the door softly behind him, and listened.

"I don't want to talk about it," said May's muffled voice.

Drew immediately felt like he was trespassing. But he would be able to hear them throughout the apartment, anyway. And he told May about the patented paper-thin walls earlier.

"May," another voice replied softly. It must have been Leaf. "You didn't want to talk about it yesterday."

"I still don't."

"Why not?"

There was a break in conversation.

"May. It's 6 am. He's probably not even awake."

Another slight pause.

"I feel like he is," said May's quiet voice.

Drew smirked and used the towel to ruffle his hair before tossing it on a chair. When the entire building was quiet, it sounded like they were practically in the same room.

He heard May's bed creak and assumed that someone moved.

"Okay," Leaf said. "I'm sorry."

"I just didn't know what else to do."

"I know."

"Do you think he hates me?" May asked timidly.

Drew had to physically stop himself from scoffing. She couldn't be serious.

"May—"

"You're right," May admitted. "I'm being ridiculous."

Leaf laughed. "As usual."

May joined in with her trademark giggle. "What else is new, right?"

Drew grabbed a pressed dress shirt from a hanger in his closet and smiled at their girlish laughter.

"Typical May," Leaf joked.

"Just typical May!" May echoed.

Drew rolled his eyes and threw the shirt around his shoulders, sticking his arms through the sleeves and adjusting the collar.

Their hushed giggles quieted to silence and it once again felt like six in the morning. The only light in the room came from the streetlamp outside his window. Drew sat on the edge of his bed and stuck his socked feet into the legs of his pants.

He heard May sigh through the wall.

"He's so pretty, Leaf."

Drew paused, and blinked, his eyes emptily roaming his darkened room.

"I know."

"I should've moved here sooner," May said tiredly. "Like months ago—"

"May," Leaf interjected. "You didn't know—"

"I know," she replied. "But I wish I did."

Everything was suddenly silent. Drew exhaled and ran his hand through his hair. If she moved here months ago, it wouldn't have mattered; he'd been planning to leave the building for a while. Every potential sublet just fell through somehow.

"Come on," Leaf said enthusiastically, obviously trying to lighten the mood. "Help me get my stuff together."

Drew listened as May's bed creaked. He could hear the struggle of movement in May's voice.

"Why is your flight so _early_ , Leaf?"

The walls groaned from the force of May's bedroom door opening. Leaf's voice sounded increasingly distant.

"It was the best fare."

"But it's not _fare_ ," May said, giggles seeping into her voice, "to _me—_ "

"May—"

"When your flight is this early—"

"May, I can't believe you said that."

Their conversation faded as they ventured further away from May's bedroom. Drew could hear a faint apology on May's behalf before they were entirely out of earshot. He pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to prevent his neighbor's muffled words from clouding his thoughts even further, but it was too late. She'd taken up residency with no intention of leaving.

Drew fastened a belt around his waist and prepared himself for the very long day ahead of him.

* * *

May exited the building and embraced the fresh, spring weather. In the days after Drew's absence and Leaf's departure, she'd gotten used to silence of her apartment. Yet again. She'd also mastered the art of avoiding Drew in the hallway, which was something she'd actually planned on doing since the day she moved in. Now she had a reason.

May watched her feet as she jogged down the front steps of the building. The air felt soothing against her bare arms. She looked up when she reached the plateau, and she froze immediately. A head full of green was ascending the steps in front of her, his eyes aimed at his feet as he stepped as well.

Her peace of mind suddenly vanished. There was nothing she could do. She couldn't turn around; he would know she was avoiding him because she had to have come from the building. They also lived on the same floor, and he would have to follow her up another flight of stairs.

She also couldn't move forward and walk past him without saying anything, so she stood still.

Before her mind could reel any further, she watched him lift his head as he reached the plateau. He placed one foot onto the leveled stairs and stopped immediately. His green eyes clung to her, widening slightly. He wore a white dress shirt and slacks. His shoes were polished.

The seconds of pure silence that lasted between them felt like an eternity. The spring air dusted her cheeks, and chirping birds were suddenly audible. Someone walked past May on the stairs and continued on to pass Drew.

May found herself trying to remember the sound of his voice before he spoke. She tried to keep herself from unearthing what she spent the past three days burying.

"Hey," he said, his voice lightly coated with surprise. He placed his other foot on the plateau of the steps and stood before her, a noticeable distance between them.

The only thing May could concentrate on was how smooth that simple word sounded to her. His voice reverberated in her ears and echoed in the chambers of her mind.

He still looked absolutely beautiful. The curve of his shoulders. The sculpture of his arms. She took all of this in without breaking eye contact with him.

Were his eyes always that color? They were without a doubt the purest green she'd ever seen in her entire life.

It was then that she realized she still hadn't said anything back to him. She began her delayed reply right when he began asking her a question.

"Hey—"

"How is, um—?"

Drew stopped short of finishing his question. She could feel his gaze growing soft. He seemed distracted.

She drummed her fingers against her spandex-covered thigh and tried to prevent the fresh memories of his lips and hands and breath from flooding her mind.

She nodded when she realized he had no intention of finishing his question.

"Oh!" she said. "Good!"

"That's good," he replied.

"Yeah, it's really good."

Drew nodded slowly, his lidded eyes never leaving her face. His nod quickly turned into a slight shaking of the head, a slow smirk covering his lips.

"I have no idea what we're talking about," he admitted, his voice low.

May could feel a smile light up her face. "Neither do I."

She giggled and doubled over slightly, pressing against the barrier they had formed between them. Drew chuckled at her laughter, running a hand through his hair. He brushed at his nose and May looked back up to meet his eyes. She watched as his gaze bounced across her facial features before landing on her lips for half a second.

He suddenly looked down the street at nothing in particular, his hand in his hair. "So, uh, I was about to get something to eat—" he met her eyes and shrugged. "—if you wanted to come with."

May frowned slightly, her mind and heart immediately at war.

"Where were you going?" she wondered.

"Just some place around the corner."

May crossed her arms and averted her eyes. "I don't know."

"They only let you in if you're neighbors," Drew said. May looked back up at him, skeptical. "Just neighbors," he continued.

"Just neighbors?" she asked.

He nodded slowly. "Just neighbors."

"So, I couldn't go with Leaf?"

"No."

May tried to see the thoughts that lay behind his eyes. "And… we couldn't go if we were dating."

"Nope. Definitely not."

She smiled slyly at him, and a smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"What about roommates?"

Drew furrowed his eyebrows. "See, that's really debatable."

He looked over his shoulder at a person ascending the steps and moved closer to the concrete railing in order to allow them space to pass through. He tapped May's side lightly so she would do the same. She watched as he leaned against the concrete with his elbow, her side still burning from his touch.

"That's actually a really hot topic right now," he continued. "You probably haven't heard of it because you're so new."

"Right," May said, leaning on the concrete as well. "Because I just moved in."

"Exactly."

The look on his face was so soft and serene when he spoke with her. She could feel that nothing between them had changed.

"Do you ever go with Gary?" she asked.

"No," he said. "We try to stay out of trouble." He grinned. "It's really controversial."

"Of course," May agreed, smiling up at him.

"Really touchy subject."

"I can tell."

She paused before speaking again.

"I feel like that's really bad for business," she said, cocking her head to the side.

His gaze followed the hair that trailed down her shoulder before returning to her eyes. "Probably."

"That's such a weird policy."

He smirked. "I don't make the rules."

She blinked slowly, her smile spreading further across her lips. "Really."

"Yeah, really," Drew said. He lifted an eyebrow when she didn't respond. "You don't believe me?"

"No, I just—" She cleared her throat and pursed her lips playfully.

"You think I'd make that up?" he mumbled.

May shook her head aggressively. "No! No, it's just—" she averted her eyes and shrugged, "I'd have to go back upstairs and change."

Drew's eyes briefly scanned her racerback top and leggings. "You look…" May could tell he was struggling to find a neighborly term. "Fine."

"Yeah?"

Drew nodded slowly. "So do you wanna go?"

May gave in to the demands of her heart, a smile gradually crossing her face. "Yeah. Since it won't be controversial or anything."

"Definitely not," Drew agreed, shoving his hands in his pockets and turning around to face the street.

May followed him down the steps and turned left when she reached the sidewalk. Drew walked on the right side of her, keeping her pace. She looked up at him quickly before looking at the path in front of her. It was weird going anywhere with him outside of the apartment. It was as if he didn't exist outside of the building.

"How far away is this place?" May asked.

"It's the next block over."

"Oh," she said. "What's it called?"

"Jenny's."

May nodded. She admired the little trees lining the sidewalk that were enclosed with tiny metal barriers.

"It's like a café-diner fusion," Drew explained.

May giggled slightly. "That's my favorite kind of fusion."

Drew laughed next to her in surprise, looking over at her as they walked.

She could hear the smile in his voice. "Café-diner fusion?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling. "Forget Tex-Mex."

He laughed out loud again. It was different from the whispery chuckles he usually gave, but she liked this laugh just as much.

"Even Asian-fusion?" he asked.

They reached the corner of the street and waited for the crosswalk to turn in their favor.

"Nothing can beat café-diner," May said.

He shook his head in amusement and stepped onto the asphalt of the street after the light changed. "Whatever you say, Maple."

They crossed the street with a crowd of people, and May stood closer to him so as to not get separated. He walked slightly behind her, their arms almost overlapping.

After reaching the sidewalk she asked him a question.

"So, who do you usually go with?" She looked up at him, and he briefly returned her gaze. The color of his eyes felt like home.

"To Jenny's?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. She scanned the names of the businesses lining the sidewalk to find the one they were going to. "Since it's Neighbor's-Only."

"Oh," Drew said. "I go with that guy down the hall."

May giggled and leaned into him slightly. "What's his name?"

Drew shrugged. "We're not on a first-name basis."

"You eat with him and you're not on a first-name basis."

They approached the end of the block, and large, navy letters spelling "Jenny's" extended from the top of the business on the corner. They passed large glass windows with sleek, metal framing, and Drew reached passed May to open the door for her.

" _We_ weren't on a first-name basis for a while," he recalled as she entered the building.

"Yeah," she said. She felt him follow closely behind her into the café. "For, like, a _day._ "

"Hi!" the hostess greeted them. "How many?"

"Two," Drew said definitively.

Her heart fluttered at that simple word. How much it implied, but couldn't hold.

They followed the hostess to a booth, at May's suggestion, and sat across from each other. May stared at Drew's collar, her hands folded on the table in front of her. His top button was opened lazily, and his collarbone peaked out from the material. She could feel him staring back at her, memorizing what she looked like in the daylight of the café rather than the artificial lighting of the apartment. The place buzzed with conversation around them, though they sat in silence.

Then, May was hit with a sudden realization, her heart sinking to her stomach and her eyes growing wide. Drew's eyes widened slightly as well, his eyebrows wrinkling with concern.

"What?" he asked her.

"I forgot my wallet," she said.

He pinched the bridge of his nose to hide his smile. "Why did you wait until we sat down to remember that?"

"I don't know," she whispered, clearly panicked.

"I'll cover you," he said, shrugging. "It's no big deal."

"Really?"

"Yeah," he said. He met her eyes. "Neighbors do that, right?"

May searched his eyes before staring at the table. "Yeah."

Glasses of water were placed before them, and she looked up to thank the waitress. Drew requested more time to look over the menu, and the waitress acquiesced, leaving them alone once again.

May stared at her hands, afraid to look him in the eyes. She'd spent the past couple of days convincing herself that they weren't as beautiful as she'd remembered. And so far, she was horribly wrong.

To break the stagnant silence, May cleared her throat politely.

"How's the search coming along?" she asked.

Drew looked up from his menu, his eyes slightly wide with surprise from her unexpected question. Then he casually returned to scanning the paper menu. "Good," he said.

"That's good."

"Yeah," he said. He paused before a slow smirk graced his features. "But then they ask about how the neighbors are, and," he shrugged, "I just have to tell the truth."

May frowned, watching as he closed the menu and placed it on the table.

"What are you getting?" Drew asked.

"Wait—" May said.

"You didn't even look at your menu."

"Drew."

He tried to stop himself from smiling, to no avail. "What?"

"What did you tell them about your neighbors?" she asked.

He was clearly enjoying how antsy she was getting. Amusement was plastered all over his face. "Pick something, and I'll let you know."

She clenched her jaw and glared at him. "Fries."

Drew looked to his left and watched as the waitress approached them. He had to see her coming. He placed their order, and apparently, he'd opted for fries, too.

After she left with their menus, May returned her heated gaze to Drew, who was grinning at her smugly. His eyes were so attractively smoldering that she felt herself being captured.

"So about your neighbors," she mumbled, her hands clasped in her lap.

"Oh," he said. "Right."

Drew said nothing more, opting instead to watch her simmer in the silent anticipation. May squirmed slightly, and his grin widened.

"What do you tell them?" May said through clenched teeth.

He seemed satisfied at her annoyance and began to explain. "Well," he said, his voice hushed in a completely sweltering way, "that the guy down the hall is really nice."

May became especially attentive to how long his eyelashes looked against his cheeks when he looked down. He suddenly glanced up to meet her eyes and she felt her heart jolt unexpectedly.

"But the girl next door?" he said. May could swear that every other shade of green paled in comparison to Drew's eyes. "Different story."

May had to physically stop herself from glancing down at his lips. "You don't think I'm nice?" She could _hear_ her emotions seeping into her voice.

She could tell that he heard it, too, because he took a few seconds to respond. She watched him clench his jaw. "No, I just…" he shrugged slightly without breaking eye contact, "said they'd see you in a towel." He blinked slowly. "Once or twice."

May said nothing, afraid they'd fall back into their old habits. All she wanted was to be alone with him somewhere. Immediately. And see if he could get her to sigh to ten.

Drew must have been thinking the same thing, because he suddenly broke into a smile.

"They're going to kick us out," he said.

She stared at the table and ran her hands in her hair in an attempt to alleviate some of the steam rising in her cheeks. "Neighbors only," she said.

"Yeah."

Their conversation came to a brief pause before Drew's exasperated voice broke the silence.

"You can't keep _looking_ at me like that," he said.

May looked up from the table to see that Drew was staring out the window beside them, a hand in his hair. The sunlight caught his eyes, slightly lightening the color.

"Like what?" she asked.

She watched him process her question, his eyebrows furrowed. "Like you want me to—"

Drew stopped speaking and exhaled. He met her eyes and relaxed noticeably. He watched her face, his eyes briefly passing over her lips. "You're killing me, Maple."

"You're killing _me_ ," the brunette said softly.

He raised his eyebrows, his hands still in his hair, his elbow still resting on the table between them. " _I'm_ killing _you_?"

"Yes," she said, a sweet smile forming on her lips.

Drew smiled back at her so softly that she felt him utterly recapture her heart. They sat in silence and May let her eyes travel across the slopes and contours of his cheeks. She concentrated on the strands of hair hanging in his face. How easily his eyes turned from sweltering to absolutely comforting.

Drew suddenly moved his hand to brush his nose, hiding his smile. He broke eye contact briefly and adjusted his seating position in the booth across from her. His foot briefly touched hers beneath the table.

"They're going to kick us out," he said again.

"They're definitely going to kick us out," she agreed, giggling.

Drew resorted to his signature airy chuckles, leaning his elbow on the table to cover his face with his fist.

The waitress returned and placed a plate of fries between the two of them, and her green-haired neighbor lifted up his head to address her, a smile still lingering on his lips.

"Can I do anything else for you?" she asked politely.

Drew turned to look at May, an eyebrow raised. "Are you sure this is all you want?"

May, on any other day, would've ordered much more, but she politely declined.

"That'll do it," Drew said to the waitress. "Thanks."

"Alright!" she said happily. "Let me know if you need anything else."

May watched her walk away before slyly returning her gaze to Drew.

"Hi," he said, a smirk overtaking his lips.

"Hi," May replied. She looked down at the plate of fries in front of them before meeting his eyes once again. "Why did you invite me here?"

Drew reached for a fry and shrugged. "I wanted to talk to you."

He bit the fry and May reached for one herself.

"Did you miss me?" she asked.

His face was entirely passive.

"Yeah," he said nonchalantly between chews.

May felt her heart warm entirely, a soft grin reaching her eyes. She watched as his stoic expression cracked slightly before collapsing into a smile, and he broke eye contact again.

"May, I swear to God—" he said, entirely exasperated.

"I'm sorry," she said, feeling heat reach the tips of her ears.

Drew stared at the table. "You're making this so much harder than it needs to be."

"I know! I'm sorry," she said, laughing.

He rubbed at his browline, a grin staining his lips. "Control yourself. Jesus."

"Alright," she said, her voice raising slightly. "Okay."

"Okay."

He looked up at her again, his composure regained.

She tossed the fry into her mouth, her face tense with determination.

"How's the job search coming?" he asked her, grabbing a few more fries.

May sighed and lifted the glass of water to her lips. "I stopped looking actually."

Drew frowned. "Why?"

May shrugged, disheartened. She hadn't heard back from a single place that she'd contacted. And she didn't think she was ever going to.

"I think I can help you out," Drew said.

The brunette lit up immediately and saw something spark in Drew's eyes as well. "Really?"

"Yeah," he said. "My boss is looking for a pretty, young woman to be his secretary. You know, be the face of the company—"

May locked eyes with him, smiling knowingly. She entirely disregarded the rest of his sentence. "Did you just call me pretty?"

Drew's eyes widened slightly, and he seemed to realize his mistake. "What?"

Her smirk grew. "You just called me pretty."

Drew reached for fries to break the intense eye contact. "No, I didn't."

May sat up straighter in the booth and leaned forward, her forearms resting against the table. "You said your boss was looking for a pretty girl."

Drew raised his eyebrows and pointed the fries at her. "I said pretty _young_."

"No—"

"Pretty _young_ , Maple."

May pursed her lips to prevent from laughing and Drew challenged her with a playful smirk.

"Will you do it?" he asked. "I think you'd fit. You're pretty young."

She rolled her eyes and used her finger to press circles in the condensation on her glass of water. "I don't think I want to _just_ be a secretary."

"I know you don't," Drew's voice said softly, reassuring her.

She drew little half circles underneath the dots, creating smiley faces.

"But for now?" His voice begged her to make eye contact with him and she acquiesced. "I think it's worth a try."

She sighed, but said nothing, her focus shifting between his eyes.

"Promise me you'll at least come with me to the office tomorrow," he said.

May could see how much he wanted to help her. She could see the plea in his eyes.

"Okay," she said quietly.

"Alright," Drew said, taking a drink of his water.

May bit her lip and pulled out a fry that was buried deeply in the pile in front of them. "I guess I'll see you again tomorrow morning."

"Yeah," Drew said, running his hand through his hair. "I guess you will."

* * *

 **Alright alright alright. You guys know the drill! Let me know all of your thoughts and feelings.**

 **Hopefully I update before the end of December, because I'm personally not a fan of the whole month-between-updates thing. I need to stop doing that lol**

 **Again, thanks for sticking with me through this. It's going to be a fun ride.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey everyone! It has been a very, very long time. I'm sorry I didn't update at all in December, but I've had a ton on my plate and have actually been pretty bummed. Also, I had to do a ton of thinking and make a lot of decisions regarding this story. I've also written some bits for future chapters and I absolutely can't wait until we get there.**

 **Thank you everyone for all of the reviews! I'm almost at 100, and I absolutely can't believe this. This chapter is pretty important and really gets the ball rolling. Hopefully it's a fun read for you, because I'm really liking how some things are beginning to come together.**

 **In response to the review by Exy: Wow. I cannot believe you feel this way. I am so immensely happy. Thank you so much for telling me this. It's only going to get better from here. Thank you so much for investing your time into reading this story! Reviews like yours keep me going.**

 **In response to the review by Forevershine: Hi! I was waiting for a review from you! Hahaha yeah they're pretty awkward. I think they're restarting and figuring out where it's safe for them to stand. But writing their awkward little communications is definitely really fun for me!**

 **Alright, guys. I've kept you waiting long enough. Here's Chapter 11.**

* * *

"That makes no sense, Maple," Drew laughed.

The chill of the spring morning air whipped at May's cheeks and fluttered the hem of her blue sundress around her knees. Drew walked with his hands in the pockets of his slacks, the top button of his dress shirt undone attractively. She tried not to look at his collarbone and made eye contact instead, although that didn't help much either. The two walked together to the building that housed Drew's office, and though it was about a ten minute walk, a part of her wished it was longer.

"Why do you _always_ say that?" May asked.

She saw him shrug out of the corner of her eye. "Because your logic is always flawed."

May watched her shoes as she walked and purposefully avoided stepping on a crack in the sidewalk.

"So you're telling me that…" she started, "sea cucumbers aren't just… pickles?"

Drew stopped walking completely to laugh out loud. He doubled over slightly, his hands still in his pockets.

"This isn't funny, Drew," May fumed, embarrassingly stopping to look back at him.

He ran his hand down his face, trying to compose himself. "Who told you that?"

May shrugged, turning around to face the direction they were previously walking in. Drew joined her, his arm brushing against hers.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I just sort of assumed because pickles could totally have a… sea-like taste."

He chuckled again. "Please never bring this up in conversation."

May huffed in aggravation. "Why not?"

"Please just trust me on this."

She crossed her arms and said nothing in response. A car passed by and the subsequent wind blew her hair into her face, causing her to tuck it behind her ear.

A small shop with displayed flowers came into view, and May's vision was suddenly overtaken by soft pinks and yellows and purples. A soft gasp slipped from her lips, and she let her feet carry her towards the flowers. Her fingertips reached up to touch the soft velvet of a tulip petal.

She felt Drew's presence close behind her left shoulder, his body curving around hers but leaving a barrier in between. She met his eyes and found that he was smiling, almost laughing.

He tilted his head quickly in the direction of the store. The corners of his eyes were crinkled from his smile, and his eyelashes were long and beautiful.

"Do you wanna go inside?" he asked knowingly.

"Yes," she whispered immediately, a smile reaching her eyes as well.

Their faces were so incredibly close. She watched his smile widen at her response.

"Okay," he said, turning away and briefly touching her waist to guide her towards the door. He opened it for her, and a bell chimed.

The floor was filled with piles of rustic, wooden boxes containing different bundles of beautiful flowers. Daisies and baby's breath. Tulips and cosmos. The explosion of color was unlike anything May had ever seen, and was very much unlike the organization of a typical flower shop.

"Welcome to Delia's!" a feminine voice called.

A brunette woman appeared at the end of the center aisle, her hair pulled back to keep it from her face. She seemed very loving and matronly. Her face lit up immediately, and she approached the entranceway.

"Drew!" she exclaimed.

"Hey, Mrs. Ketchum," Drew replied warmly.

"How are you?" she cooed before her eyes landed on May. "And who is this?"

"This is my neighbor, May," Drew introduced. He turned to face her. "She just moved in."

"Nice to meet you," May said, extending her hand for a handshake.

The woman shook hands with May and smiled. "I'm Delia. Ash's mother."

The handshake that lasted between them slowed due to May's confusion. She looked to Drew for help in understanding the situation.

Drew frowned. "You've met Ash."

May shook her head slowly and withdrew her hand. Her eyes slowly trailed to Delia's puzzled expression.

"I don't think so," May said.

"Well," Drew corrected, "you've seen him."

She tried to remember a face that resembled Delia's and came up with nothing.

"Well, I'm sure you'll get to meet him," Delia said, waving her hand in dismissal. "He'll be back any minute." She looked fondly between May and Drew. "How nice it is for Drew to show you around." Delia placed both hands on her hips and sighed. "Well, I'll leave you to it!"

"Thank you," Drew said politely.

She suddenly raised a stern finger and wagged it at him. "Now, don't let this one slip away, Drew. She's very pretty."

May felt her heart flutter in embarrassment and tried to ignore her heated cheeks. Delia turned around and began retreating down the center aisle.

Drew's tone of voice was very rushed. "Alright, thanks, Mrs. Ketchum."

"Very pretty!" she called before rounding a corner and disappearing into the rows of flowers littering the shop floor.

May refused to look at him but could hear him sigh.

"Thanks," he muttered. She felt the movement of him running his hands through his hair before he spoke again. "Come on, Maple, let's look around."

May ventured to the right, walking in front of the shop window. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she admired the floral beauty of the inventory. "Let's _peruse_ ," she said softly.

Drew chuckled quietly behind her, and she smiled in response. She didn't think he'd heard her.

"How much time do we have?" she asked, looking back at him briefly before examining more floral arrangements.

There was a slight pause before he answered. "Like 15 minutes."

"Just enough time," she said, approaching the right wall of the building. She followed the aisle around the corner. "Just enough time t—"

May stopped speaking immediately. The entire wall was filled with bouquets and bouquets of roses. Deep reds. Pinks. Whites. All beautiful, and all so unlike the rest of the store, which was assorted in every which way.

She walked slowly up to the wall, Drew following her. He stood next to her as she gently a lifted a rose from its bouquet and held it to her nose. Drew said nothing as she filled her senses with the aroma of absolute purity.

The bell of the front door broke May from her brief trance.

"Mom," said a vaguely familiar voice. "I'm back—"

May stood up completely to see who had spoken.

"Oh, hey, Drew," said the guy. His brown eyes fell on May and immediately lit up. "Oh, hey!"

"Oh!" May exclaimed loudly, her memory instantly sparked. "You're that guy! You're the guy from the party!"

He laughed. "Oh, yeah." He rubbed the back of his head, not helping the state of his messy black hair. "I felt more like a messenger than anything."

"Sorry about that, man," Drew apologized.

"No, it was fun!" Ash said. "I saw _you_ , I saw _Gary_ , I saw lots of _other_ people—"

May nodded. "Sounds like a party to me!"

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. He paused, as if considering something, then pointed at May backhandedly and turned to Drew. "I like this one."

"Yeah," Drew said, hands in pockets.

"What's your name?" Ash asked the brunette.

"May," she said.

"Ash." He paused slightly. "You're really cool." May smiled and Ash started backing away from them. "Alright, I'll see you guys later. I have some things to tie up here."

"Alright, man," Drew dismissed.

May watched Ash walk away, tugging his pink T-shirt over his head to reveal a white one. He started a half jog in the direction of the back of the store before the flowery aisles blocked her line of vision.

She turned to Drew, who was already looking at her.

"Let's go?" she asked.

"Let's go."

He guided her to the end of the wall of roses, where glass double-doors led into the lobby of a bustling building. May gently touched Drew's forearm to center herself as she watched seas of swiftly moving men and women in business attire rush to where they needed to be. Drew looked down at her briefly before continuing to a set of metallic-looking elevators in the center of the back wall of the lobby. They waited in the crowd of people for the next available lift.

May's eyes glanced conspicuously at her fingertips on Drew's forearm. She wondered if she should remove them. Was this crossing the boundary they'd created? She looked up at Drew just as conspicuously and saw that his green eyes were glued on the numbers above each of the elevators. He didn't seem to mind. He didn't seem to notice.

"Is Delia's flower shop apart of this building?" she clarified.

"Mmhmm," Drew hummed, his gaze unchanging.

May turned her attention to the elevators as well, watching as one red digital number moved from five to one. A bell sounded, and they slowly shuffled inside. They turned around to face the doors of the elevator and Drew pressed the number fourteen on the number pad after a couple other passengers pressed the respective numbers of their floors.

The elevator set in motion, and they stared at the number that signified which floor they were approaching: 8. The elevator reached the floor, and the passengers moved slightly to let some people leave. And then it was in motion again. May let her fingers slide from his forearm to the tips of his fingers, but let them linger. Her heart, for some reason, hammered in her chest, and she slightly turned her head to look up at him again. Drew stared straight ahead, his face stoic. May returned her gaze to the elevator doors and immediately felt his forefinger curl around her own.

The brunette desperately tried to keep a smile from lighting up her face as they approached the eleventh floor, but failed miserably. She bit her lip to compensate and stared as the increasing digital number approached fourteen.

The two stepped out onto the fourteenth floor and into a high-ceilinged space, their forefingers separating. There were large cylindrical columns scattered throughout the floor, and May desperately longed to paint them festive colors. They seemed to be holding up the building, but she knew they were somewhat decorative.

Drew stood beside her as they moved through the center aisle, her eyes bouncing between each of the cubicles they passed. They were mostly empty, as it was still a bit early. Nevertheless, she admired the personalities that decorated the grey spaces: picture frames, plants, stickers.

Drew's pinky suddenly hooked with hers, tugging her slightly and signaling they were making a left turn. Her attention snapped from the empty cubicles to the direction they were walking in.

His pinky finger slowly slipped from hers and they continued walking along the aisle, cubicles on either side of them. Suddenly, the cubicles on the left cleared and made space for what looked to be a small office. A brass nameplate was bolted next to the door, but May was too far away to read it. The two approached a wall of the building that was lined entirely with windows, and Drew slowed his pace before sitting down in a rolling chair.

"Welcome home," he said with a smirk.

"Is this where you sit?" May wondered.

Drew casually rolled across the small aisle to grab another rolling chair. "Yep." He slid back to his desk and positioned it next to him.

May cautiously took a seat and tried to fit next to him in the small space of the cubicle. Drew moved over slightly to accommodate her and rested his elbow on his desk. May felt his gaze burn her cheeks as she admired the decorations marking his cubicle. There weren't very many decorations, much like his room. Business cards. A rubber band ball with green rubber bands. A pencil holder. A pencil with a rose as an eraser, the eraser entirely untouched. A photograph.

May blinked and leaned a bit closer, attempting to recognize the contents of the picture. She saw a stage filled with a group of people. And one of them had green hair.

She gasped slightly. "Is that you?"

Drew smoothly placed the photograph on its face before she finished asking her question. "No."

She smiled and met his emerald green eyes.

"Yes, it was," she murmured.

He stared back at her, still leaning on his elbow. "It absolutely wasn't."

Her eyes lit up with sudden realization. In the picture, he was on a stage. "Didn't you do theatre in high school?"

He said nothing, his gaze unfaltering. Then his hand slowly moved from his chin to cover the picture frame as it laid flat on the table.

May's eyes widened, and he smirked guiltily.

"Let me see," she said.

"No," he said simply.

"Drew—"

"I'm not letting you see high school me."

"Why not? You probably have nothing to worry about," she argued. "I bet you were just as—"

May stopped immediately before letting something slip from her lips. She made panicked eye contact with her neighbor, whose eyebrows were raised.

Seconds of complete silence lasted between them. A phone rang in the distance.

"Just as what, Maple?" he murmured.

May ignored her heart hammering in her chest, hoping that he couldn't hear it. She blinked before breaking eye contact and pulling a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Let me see the picture," she mumbled.

She stared at his hand, which didn't move, so she met his eyes again. They were filled with a quiet wanting that she was afraid mirrored her own.

His hand slowly lifted from the picture frame, and he handed her the photograph without disrupting their gaze.

She took it silently before looking down to examine the picture. Her eyes immediately found Drew, sitting near the edge of the stage, one hand resting on his raised knee. He wasn't looking at the photographer, his eyes boring into something to the far right of the camera. Though she could only see his profile, May could tell he looked a bit younger. His hair was a bit shaggier, but it was just as green. His jaw was just as strong, and his gaze was probably piercing holes in whatever he was looking at. She was right. He was just as beautiful.

The brunette looked up to face her neighbor and felt a spark that threatened to give her a heart attack.

She thought of a question to ask, just to break the silence. "What were you looking at in this picture?"

Drew blinked slowly, thinking for a few seconds before shrugging distractedly. His eyes were so heavily lidded that May wondered what thoughts were filling his mind. All May could think about was how close his face was to hers. The words she spoke to him at his party echoed through her mind.

 _I really want to kiss you_.

Drew suddenly looked away and gently took the picture from her, peering at it himself. "I think I was just trying to look cool."

May watched him place the photograph back in its previous position. "Why do you keep it on your desk?"

Drew's fingers tapped against the desk as he thought of an answer. "To remind myself of what I want to do." He looked at May briefly. "Remember that feeling we talked about at the party? With the performing?"

"Yeah," she said. The thing that was flashy, yet skillful.

"That was the closest I've ever gotten to doing it," he said. "And…" he rubbed at his chin, "the picture's to remind myself that I don't really get that feeling working here."

May frowned. "But theatre isn't it," she recalled.

"Nope," Drew said. "But neither is marketing."

May listened as the office began to bustle to life. More people shuffled in as the start of the work day drew nearer.

"That's what you do?" she wondered.

He nodded slowly, his fingers pausing against his desk.

"Yep."

The brunette's frown deepened. "For some reason I pictured something a bit… flashier."

Drew almost laughed. "Really?" He thought for a second, his hand running through his hair. "I think marketing's as flashy as it gets around here."

"Good morning, Drew."

Drew looked up suddenly, his chair slightly swiveling into the aisle before he rolled it back into place.

"Good morning, Solidad."

May turned around completely to see the woman who had just spoken. She was tall and intimidating, yet somehow comforting. Her hair was long and salmon-pink, and she was dressed in a navy blue pantsuit.

Solidad smiled down at May, who was trying her best not to look microscopic. The brunette could instantly tell this woman was important, based solely on the way she carried herself.

"Who's this?" she asked.

"This is May," Drew clarified. "She's visiting today."

The woman's smile widened, and she glanced slightly at Drew before extending her hand to May. The brunette took her hand and shook it.

"I'm Solidad," the woman said.

"The head of the marketing department," Drew continued.

"Nice to meet you," May declared politely.

"Likewise," Solidad said. She looked past May to make eye contact with Drew, holding back laughter. "You didn't have to say that."

Drew scoffed. "Yes, I did. You're too modest about it. There's a plaque by your door."

"So?"

May could hear Drew's words reverberating in her ears from where he sat directly behind her. "So, I think you've earned the right to toss that into conversation."

Solidad scoffed in amused annoyance, much like an older sister would. "Alright, Drew."

"It's true," Drew said. May felt felt him turn away from her and heard his fingers tapping on his keyboard. "You worked hard, Sol."

Solidad smiled warmly at him before turning her attention back to May. "It was nice to meet you." May nodded as she turned away, beginning to walk towards what May assumed to be her office. "I'll see you later, Drew."

"Alright," he said dismissively.

May watched as Drew logged into his email account and checked the memos for the day.

"Time to start marketing?" she guessed.

He sighed of boredom. "Yep."

* * *

May swiped her credit card on the vending machine and mulled over her snack choices. Chips? No, too noisy. Once she got past the clamor of opening the bag, she and everyone around her would have to sit through the initial crunch and consequent crunches of each individual chip. This ruled out about half of the vending machine. Cookies would do her no good. Neither would candy. She opted for a soft granola bar and pressed the corresponding buttons.

She reached down to grab the bar before she was slightly startled by a voice.

"Hungry?"

She looked up from her crouched position, her hand getting momentarily stuck in the machine. It was Ash.

"Yeah," May answered. She stood up completely and moved from in front of the machine. "You?"

"Always." Ash quickly swiped his card and punched buttons so quickly that May suspected he had the code memorized.

May smiled to herself as his choice tumbled to the bottom of the machine. He'd opted for chips.

"I thought you worked at the flower shop," May said.

Ash reached down to grab the bag before standing back up. "Oh." He opened the bag of chips. "No, I work in sales." He popped a chip in his mouth. "I just throw on a shirt and help out my mom with deliveries sometimes."

"Oh," May said. "That's really nice of you."

"Yeah," Ash replied, grinning. "It's nothing, really." He crunched on another chip. "So what's up with you and Drew?" May immediately felt the blood rush to her ears. "Are you dating?"

She waved her hands in front of her dismissively, wishing he'd keep his voice down. "No, no. We're just… we're neighbors."

"Oh." Ash blinked. "Because I could've sworn I interrupted something the other night—"

May laughed with absolute embarrassment. "No, no, don't worry about it. It's okay. It's fine."

"Alright," Ash said. He paused for a second. "So, if you aren't dating, then why did he bring you here?"

May fiddled with the open flap of the granola bar package. "He's trying to convince me to work here."

Ash's eyes widened with excitement. "No way."

May smiled. She hadn't heard that expression used seriously in years. She gave the only possible correct response: "Way."

Ash nodded in approval of her word choice and continued speaking. "Which department are you thinking of applying for?"

He turned slightly, which signaled May to follow, as he began walking in the direction of what May assumed to be his cubicle.

"I don't know," May admitted. "Drew told me about an open… secretary position?"

They veered to the right, and Ash sat down at the first open cubicle. A baseball cap was hung over the side of the space, directly over a waste bin. The metal walls of his personal box were plastered with pictures of him with a red-headed girl. Papers cluttered his desk, but he seemed to be at ease with the slight mess.

He leaned back in his chair and squinted at May. "You don't strike me as the secretary type."

May's eyes glanced from Ash's face to the left wall of his cubicle, which had poorly-erased scribbled writing on it. She stared as she tried to decipher it.

 _Gary was here. Ash is a loser._

Ash followed her eyes and sighed as if she had just dug up a buried memory. "Gary wrote that."

"Drew's roommate?" May asked.

"Yeah," Ash said. "He used to work here. Before he got a job at the university." He picked up an eraser and vigorously scrubbed at the wall, though no change was made. The effort he was making leaked into his voice. "It won't come off!"

May watched him struggle for a bit before crossing her arms and frowning. "That wasn't very nice of him."

Ash tossed the eraser on his desk in defeat. "He used to write this in random places all over the office." He paused briefly, lost in thought. "It was the worst." Ash turned around in his chair to look at the empty cubicle directly behind him. "But I kind of miss him. He was kind of… my sales rival." Another pause. "It's not as fun as it used to be."

May smiled sympathetically. "I'm sure you'll find someone else."

"Yeah," Ash said with a sigh. "I'm sure I will."

* * *

"Where've you been, Maple?" Drew asked casually, his eyes searching his monitor.

May sat down in the office chair he'd gotten for her earlier and rested her elbow on his desk.

"I've been talking to Ash," she said in a hushed tone.

The space was filled with the constant sound of ringing phones and the patter of keyboards.

He smirked and raised an eyebrow briefly. "Yeah?"

"Yes," she said, a slow grin overtaking her features. She watched the curve of his lips and tapped her fingernails against the desk in rapid succession.

"What did you talk about?"

"We decided," May began, "that I am not the secretary type."

Drew turned in his chair to face May fully, leaning heavily against the backrest. His eyes were playful and electric.

"I know you're not the secretary type." His smirk grew. "But you _are_ pretty young."

May covered her grin with her fist, and swiveled slightly in her chair, her knee brushing against his.

"But I am also other things," she said.

"Explain."

May swiveled again, but allowed her knee to rest fully against his. He didn't move.

"I'm charismatic," she stated.

Drew nodded. "True."

"I am…" she continued, looking up at the ceiling in search for a trait. In her periphery, she could see that Drew's gaze never left from her face. "… a people person."

"Okay," he agreed.

"Therefore—"

" _Oh_ ," Drew said in response to her strong tone.

May looked back at him to find that his eyebrows were raised in absolute amusement. "Ash and I agreed that sales would be a better fit."

Drew paused slightly. "Sales?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes."

He shook his head. "No."

"Explain."

Drew grinned at her word choice. "Sales is all about numbers. Who get's the most." He waited for her to interject, but she said nothing. "Marketing is more about presentation. Knowing your audience. Working with your team."

May could feel her eyes lighting up as his words resonated with her. All of it sounded so instinctually familiar.

"I think that's more your speed," he finished. He watched her face as his words sank in, seeming satisfied with her reaction. "Am I right?"

"Yes," she said.

Drew rotated his chair to face his desk. "Of course I am."

May rolled her eyes and reminded herself to never give him a reason to inflate his ego. She turned to face the desk as well and purposefully bumped his chair with hers.

"I can talk to Solidad for you if you want me to," Drew murmured.

May met his eyes, feeling a mixture of terror and excitement. "Really?"

"Yeah," Drew said with a smirk. "Maybe she'll like you. If you don't distract me."

May frowned. "I don't—"

His phone rang, effectively cutting her off. He muttered a soft apology to May before answering it. "Hello? Hey, what's up."

May tuned out his conversation, and let her finger run along the edges of the business cards in the stand next to his keyboard.

 _Drew Hayden, Marketing Coordinator  
Oak Enterprises, Inc._

* * *

 **Alright! This wasn't as long as the last two chapters were. I felt like this one held a lot of important details and I didn't want to cram it with too much information. We met a lot of people! We found out some things! And we're going to find out some more. Are you excited?**

 **Thanks so much for being patient with me while I sort things out. Also, thank you for all of the new favorites and follows I've gotten! I've definitely noticed.**

 **Also, I can't exactly promise fast updates (because we know my track record isn't very good, and I can't live in denial anymore) but I'll do my best. Thanks again, everyone!**

 **Until next time.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello everyone! I have been gone FOREVER. But here I am! Back with another update. This one is pretty long, too, as an apology. Remember when I used to update every week? Wow. Thank you to everyone who's sticking with me as I sort things out and figure out what to put where.**

 **Also, thank you to everyone who favorited this and any other stories I've posted while I've been gone! It has been a huge source of encouragement for me and helped me to keep writing. I won't stop until I've finished this.**

 **In response to Forevershine: Hahahaha your discomfort cracks me up, honestly. I love that I can make you cringe with how awkward they are together. I'll plan to throw in a couple more cringeworthy moments jUST FOR YOU! Thanks, as always for your dedication to reviewing. You are spectacular.**

 **In response to MagentaRuby: Hi! Thanks for stumbling upon this, and then reading my other fics! And hahahahaha I TOTALLY have a thing for long eyelashes OH NO. Haha do I really make that super noticeable? Oh no. Lol. I hope you'll continue to like the characters I add in! I'm trying to find the right balance between too many and too little characters. I don't want to create a multi-ship story, but it seems that I can't add one character without adding another. I'll figure it out, though. :)**

 **Alright! I've kept you guys waiting long enough. Let me know what you think of this one.**

* * *

"As you all know, we've already launched Oakidex technology to a select group of people." Solidad paced briefly in front of the large banquet-style table that took up the meeting room. The screen behind her was blank, as Sol didn't need the help of a slideshow to gain the attention of the marketing department when she demanded it.

"And…" she trailed, stopping her pacing and making eye contact with the attendants of the meeting. A grin spread across her lips, "it's been a huge success."

Cheers erupted in the relatively roomy space. Clapping hands. Whistles.

Drew twisted nonchalantly in his swivel chair, his arms crossed and a smug smirk on his face. He knew it would succeed. It was his idea to market to a smaller industry, after all. It would only make sense, as this technology would only, you know, revolutionize their scientific field. His private conversation with Solidad seemed to have worked.

His eyes leisurely glanced at May, who was happily joining in on the cheering. Her eyes were lit up completely, as if she knew what Oakidex technology even was. He watched as her dainty hands clapped in what seemed to be slow motion and her cheeks swelled with laughter. Drew felt his own smile soften before he returned his gaze to Solidad, who was smiling knowingly at him. But not because his idea had paid off.

She knew.

She had to.

Drew's heart thudded with slight nervousness and he ran his hands through his hair to avoid her gaze. Time seemed to catch up with him, and the cheering of the room died down to the few awkward claps that lingered before silence.

"The next thing on the agenda," Solidad continued, "is expansion. In what ways can we make Oakidex more marketable? More available?" The salmon-haired woman immediately pointed in Drew's direction. "Dawn."

A raspy female voice began speaking directly behind Drew. He leaned back in his chair, his elbow on the armrest, and listened.

"Well, we'd need a wider audience," Dawn explained. Drew watched as Solidad nodded in support. "Zoologists and archeologists and the scientific community were a fantastic start. But they're not our preferred demographic."

Drew's eyebrow lifted slightly in agreement. He and Dawn weren't very good friends at all, but she was obviously no longer an intern. She'd gone from getting coffee to using the word "demographic" in a sentence, and he was actually sort of impressed.

"Well said, Dawn," Solidad applauded. "So, who is our preferred demographic?"

 _Young people._

There was a slight silence in the room, so Solidad elaborated on her question.

"Which group of people do we want on board with our product?"

"Innovators," Drew said calmly, since no one else would. "Millennials."

Solidad's eyes flashed to him.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because they're more open to new technology," he answered without hesitation.

"Exactly." The head of the department glanced around the room, her hands clasped in front of her. "And how do we reach them?"

Drew watched as Kenny, who sat at the very front of the room, closest to Solidad, raised his hand. Solidad nodded at him, signaling for him to speak.

"Social media," Kenny said.

Drew resisted the urge to roll his eyes. As if everyone wasn't already trying that. As if Kenny himself didn't scroll past hundreds of advertisements a day.

Solidad nodded in acceptance of his answer. "Okay," she said. She pointed to someone else in the back of the room, whose voice Drew didn't recognize.

"Commercials," he said.

Solidad nodded. "Okay. Let's talk about commercials."

Drew glanced once again at May, who sat almost across the table from him. She sat one seat over and was listening intently to whatever was being said about advertisements. Drew was surprised Solidad even let her sit it on the meeting, seeing as she didn't even work for the company.

But there she was. Sitting up entirely straight and wearing a look of pure determination. Her hair fell slopingly around her shoulders, and he wished he could see her eyes. How they resembled rivers and raindrops and absolute clarity.

"What about an app?" an airy female voice said from somewhere behind Drew. "That would definitely increase our accessibility."

It was Daisy Waterflower. Drew could tell by the hush that immediately fell over the room. She had the kind of beauty that could silence the building just by entering it. She used to silence Drew, as well.

Drew watched as Solidad analyzed Daisy's suggestion. He could practically see her running numbers and connections in her mind, but he wasn't sure how Solidad felt about it. Daisy's ideas were always glitzy and more about spectacle than anything else.

Before Solidad could make up her mind, her eyes darted to a hand that was being raised tentatively. Drew's eyes followed and held his breath upon seeing who it belonged to.

May.

She slowly lowered her hand, then seemed to remember to look confident and sat taller in her seat.

The brunette cleared her throat. "What is Oakidex technology?"

A dense, uncomfortable silence overtook the room for what seemed like an eternity. Drew wanted desperately to break it, but wasn't sure it was his place to do so. He watched as May stood stubbornly tall and awaited an answer, though he knew her confidence was cracking. Just as he opened his mouth to speak and rescue her from embarrassment, Solidad answered her question.

"It's a device we've given to zoologists and the like to make research easier," she explained. "You hold it up to an animal and it lists all of its information instantly."

The brunette blinked, her mind racing. "Is it going to be strictly for animals?"

"Well, we're working on expanding it," Solidad said, "so that it would work on anything. Plants. Objects. Maybe even people."

May chewed on her lip, looking downwards in thought. She nodded slowly, reaching an understanding. "So, like Google without having to Google anything."

"Yes," Solidad said.

"An encyclopedia at your fingertips."

"Exactly."

May stopped biting her lip and sat up straight again. "So, why would we use an app?"

Another hush overtook the room as her question was pondered. It directly attacked Daisy's suggestion.

"Accessibility," Daisy said again. "That way, the Oakidex is easily downloadable—"

"But we'd be just like Google," May interrupted, turning towards the table to look at Daisy. "People would have to go out of their way to access us."

Drew entirely failed to keep a smirk from forming on his lips. He adored where this was going and congratulated himself for bringing her here. She was a natural.

"I think that Google is so established," May continued, swiveling back to look at Solidad, who was fighting a smile herself, "that we need to skip a step. Instead of being a photographic encyclopedia, let's just be… photographic."

"What do you mean?" Solidad wondered.

"Cameras," May stated simply. "The Oakidex should be an extension to the camera of a cell phone. So you don't have to go somewhere else."

Drew covered the grin on his face with his fist and listened as the room digested what had just occurred. In a decision to cut the length of the awkward silence in half, he spoke much sooner than he attempted to last time.

"I like it," he said.

Drew watched as May's eyes stayed facing the front of the room, despite the color that began to tinge the tips of her ears. She had to have recognized his voice, and it did wonders for his ego.

"It's risky," Solidad said, beckoning his attention. Her eyes were unsure and calcuolatory.

Solidad looked to him for reassurance. He knew that. She felt comfortable trusting his opinion and often came to him for advice.

"Yes, it is," Drew agreed. "But if we pull this off, it's going to revolutionize the industry."

Sol pursed her lips in thought. "And revolutionize the brand." She paused for a few moments, her eyes to the floor as her mind spun with a new possibility. Then she looked up and made eye contact with the people in the room. "Thank you, everyone. Meeting dismissed."

Immediately, the room erupted into mumbles and shuffled papers. Chairs moved. Jewelry rattled. Drew swiveled slightly in his seat, waiting for the rush of people to leave. He wasn't in a hurry to get back to his cubicle at all. There would just be a mad dash to leave the building. He met eyes with Solidad as she exited the room, and she jerked her head slightly in the direction of her office. Drew nodded back, before turning his attention to the only other person who remained seated.

Frozen as a statue, there was May Maple in her cerulean sundress, staring wide-eyed at the table in front of her. She looked like the epitome of disbelief, and Drew tried his best not to chuckle.

She seemed not to notice that he stayed seated at the table. Ignoring the few people still exiting the room, he slowly extended his foot and tapped it against hers underneath the table.

"Hey, Maple," he murmured.

She looked up at him in the most angelic way possible, her hair tousled around her shoulders. Her face was absolutely innocent, and her eyes were enticingly, electrifyingly blue.

"Hi," she whispered.

Drew felt himself smile softly. "Hi." She continued to stare at him. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah."

She held his gaze for a second, before her eyes slightly detached from his. He watched as she stared blankly at what seemed to be his shoulder, her facial features stained with muted terror.

Drew watched her warily, eyes wide as he sat still. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah," she barely whispered.

He paused and waited for her to elaborate before briefly drumming his fingers against the wood of the table. He pushed himself away from it slightly, and stood up.

"Alright," he said. "Let's go home."

In his periphery, he saw May slowly rise from her seat as well and follow him to the exit of the conference room. Her presence behind him was unmistakably identifiable, and he basked in it as he casually flipped the light switch in the room. Darkness filled the corners of his vision, before they were instantly flooded with light again.

The switch was turned back on.

Drew turned around to face the brunette, who had leaned against the wall directly next to the door, her eyes cast downward in worry once again.

"What is it?" he asked, surprised by the own softness of his voice.

Her eyes flicked up to his and searched for answers before a question escaped from her lips.

"Should I have said that?" she whispered immediately, worry etched behind her irises. "Should I have said any of that?"

"Of course," he said. His mind was reeling to remember the unofficial boundaries they'd created, as his hands longed to touch her skin in comfort. His forefinger tapped a few times against his thigh, underneath the pocket of his pants. "Why are you so worried?" he wondered.

"Is my idea even possible?" Her eyebrows knitted together with total concern, and she took a few seconds to think through her discordant thoughts. "I don't even work here."

Before he could stop himself, Drew lifted a hand and tucked a lock of hair behind May's ear. To his absolute relief, she relaxed immediately with an audible sigh. The tension in her shoulders dropped and her eyelids dipped slightly. He let his fingers graze her soft skin and smooth out the wrinkles in her forehead.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "It was innovative."

May said nothing, her gaze unfaltering.

"You were great," Drew mumbled. Again, she was silent. "Say it," he added quietly.

A smile leaked into the corners of May's lips and spread to her eyes. "I was great," she whispered.

"Good," Drew said, his voice a low hum. He smirked. "Now say, 'Drew is the greatest, most—'"

May's laughter immediately rung out into the room, and she pushed him away from her, effectively cutting him off.

"Shut up, Drew," she said, brushing past him and walking through the door of the conference room.

Drew followed close behind her and turned off the light after they'd exited. They were back again in the open floor of the office, cubicles littering the space endlessly.

"Hey," Drew said, stopping May by touching her arm with his forefinger. She turned around to face him. "I have to go talk to Solidad about something."

"Alright," she said, blinking.

"Do you remember where my desk is?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Alright." Drew grinned at her before walking in the opposite direction. "Don't get lost."

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he walked along the wall until he reached the glass windows of Solidad's office. He rapped on the door with his knuckles before opening it promptly, letting himself in.

Solidad looked up from her computer, smirking slightly and raising an eyebrow upon seeing him.

Slight confusion immediately overtook Drew's mind, and he knew that it was painted on his face. He stared at her, trying to decipher her facial expression. His hand extended slowly behind him to push the door closed. It clicked softly, but still she said nothing.

"Hey," he offered warily.

Solidad rubbed at her bottom lip with her forefinger. She was a hiding a smile. "Hey."

Drew felt like he was a specimen under a microscope. And he hated it.

"Why'd you… want to talk to me?" he asked.

Solidad shrugged in an ironically certain way and maintained eye contact. "You know…" she trailed. "Just—"

And then it clicked. He rolled his eyes and sighed, making his way to the chair that sat directly in front of her desk.

"Jesus Christ," he muttered, lowering himself into the seat by the armrests.

"What?" Sol wondered defensively.

Drew clenched his jaw, his gaze stony. "I just don't want to talk about this."

Their eyes clashed dangerously, and he was hoping Solidad would back down because he sure as hell wasn't going to.

She confidently held his gaze, her forefinger still pressed against her lips. She was analyzing him. Calculating the best plan of attack. Locating his defenses.

She searched his eyes before speaking. "The way you look at her is ridiculous."

"Stop," Drew said. He could feel his cheeks threatening to burn.

A grin immediately spread across her face, although it was covered by her hand.

"Is this what you called me in here for?" Drew questioned, mildly annoyed.

The salmon-haired woman sat up straight in her chair and grabbed a stack of papers, straightening them against the desk.

"I actually wanted to see what you thought about her—" Solidad's eyes flashed to his, "May, right?"

He nodded slightly.

"I wanted to see what you thought about her working here."

Drew paused before speaking. "Weird. I was actually going to ask you the same thing."

Solidad smiled warmly. "Really."

"Yep."

He felt his face mimic hers, and silence existed in the small office for a few seconds. Drew genuinely loved talking to Solidad. To him, it seemed that they understood marketing on an entirely different level, and understood each other on an entirely different level, as well. Other than Gary, she was the closest thing he had to a best friend, although she was a few years older than him.

"I mean you already told her about Oakidex," Drew joked.

Solidad's eyes widened in remembrance. "I did, didn't I?"

"Mmhmm," he hummed.

She shook her head in playful disbelief at herself. "I'm so bad at my job," she said playfully.

Drew scoffed. "You're the best in the business. And everyone knows it."

Resting her clasped hands on the desk, she blocked the grin that crossed her features. Drew stared back, his mind racing with thoughts of possibility. With thoughts of the near future. Of making decisions. Of change.

"Sol," he said.

She hummed in response.

Drew averted his eyes and brushed at the tip of his nose. "Do I really look at her like that?"

* * *

This was the office at its finest: empty. Every desk was abandoned, every computer screen darkened. There were no ringing phones, no distant conversations. In the silence, he felt more like himself.

Drew made the brief walk from Solidad's office to his cubicle so many times that he could probably do it blindfolded. As he approached his chair, he could see the top of May's little brunette head peaking over the cubicle wall. She didn't look up, even though she should have definitely heard his footsteps, and as he got closer, it was revealed to him that she was looking down. At something in her hand. A picture frame. The one that was on his desk.

He rested his arm over the top of the cubicle, and still she made no movement. He watched her eyes analyze the photograph, her breathing softly raising and lowering her shoulders in steady waves. Her thumb brushed slowly over a section of the photograph as her eyes flitted across the image. He did his best to memorize the serenity of her facial features before interrupting her thoughts.

"Hey," he said softly.

May's entire body immediately jumped, despite his gentle greeting. She looked up at him in absolute panic, her eyes wide with surprise. In an attempt to hide the picture from him, she clutched it close to her chest, then realized she shouldn't have had it at all and quickly placed it on the desk without breaking eye contact.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, she spoke. "Hi," she said.

"Are you…" Drew trailed, smirking. He could practically hear her heart hammering in her chest. "…ready to go home?"

"Yeah," she said, still shocked.

"Okay," Drew said, trying to keep from laughing.

"Okay," May repeated, frozen.

The walk home was statistically better than all of the other walks home he'd previously done. The street didn't seem as mundane. The buildings didn't seem as routine. And his apartment didn't seem too far away.

It actually felt a bit too close.

Drew was pampering himself. With the sound of her laugh. With the scent of her shampoo that the occasional breeze would graciously gift him with. He watched as the evening sky tinged runaway strands of her hair with a beautiful golden brown, and tried to look like his mind was elsewhere. Tried to look like this was just a normal walk home.

She was saying something and laughing so hard about it that she couldn't complete her sentence. And so she stopped, doubling over and resting her hands on her knees to help her contain her laughs. The wind blew the hem of her dress around her thighs, effectively hiding her fingers in the cloth.

Drew found himself laughing, too, although he was only half-listening to what she was saying. The rest of him always wandered somewhere else when she was with him, and he prayed that she would never notice.

May stood up and wiped the tear from her right eye with the back of her finger and walked to catch up with him before they continued on their journey home.

Drew could see their apartment building approaching, and to his surprise, he felt a slight panic set into his heart. His time with her was almost up. The day had gone by too soon. Suddenly, he was concentrating on actively enjoying every fleeting moment, but each one seemed to pass through his fingers before he could process it.

Before long, they reached the steps of the building and she doubled over in laughter again.

What were they even talking about?

His heart warmed as his mind captured only the echoes of her laughter that sounded through the city streets. He was entirely grateful for the extra seconds of her company that she provided him with.

"Come on, Maple. We're almost there."

 _Why_ did he _say_ that?

The brunette caught her breath and apologized jokingly before ascending the steps before him.

He stared at her elegant hand as it brushed against the concrete banister of the steps. He stared at his feet as he followed close behind her. Anywhere but her form in front of him.

After reaching the top of the steps, Drew reached around her to open the door for her. She thanked him and he nodded casually, his heart ticking like a time bomb.

One more flight of steps before they had to say goodbye. Their footsteps resounded in the empty lobby of the building and he tried to reassure himself that he wouldn't miss her nearly as much as he thought he would.

She began climbing the steps and he quickly followed.

They'd spent the entire day together.

Step two. Step three.

He saw her this morning when sleep was still weighing on her eyes.

His stomach ached.

Step eight. Step nine.

She was at his cubicle for seven hours today. He'd even had the opportunity to tease her about her granola bar.

They rounding the landing at the middle of the staircase and began their ascent again, their apartments steadily approaching.

He'd seen more of her today than he ever had before. He should be fine with that. He should be content.

He exhaled to release some of the anxiety building in his stomach.

He would see her tomorrow.

He would see her tomorrow.

She stood in front of her door, and he went to stand in front of his, facing her completely.

He exhaled silently.

He would see her tomorrow.

May stared at the ground in front of her, her fingers fiddling with the cloth of her dress. She chewed on her lip, and he blinked, his heartbeat flooding his ears.

It didn't make sense. Feeling this way didn't make any sense to him. All he had to say was goodbye. That's it. Goodbye.

But he didn't. His lips were sealed.

She opened her mouth and looked up at him. He braced himself.

"Can I come inside?" she asked.

Drew stared at her, shock and relief immediately flooding through him.

"Yeah."

He watched her visibly exhale and smile before he stuck his key in the door. He opened it, to reveal Gary making a sandwich at the kitchen counter. Drew put down his satchel on a chair and ran his hand through his hair.

His roommate looked up briefly and saw May before immediately looking down again.

"Hey, neighbor," he said.

"Hey," she replied lightly.

Gary topped the sandwich with a slice of bread and took a bite. "Did you run into each other on the way up here?"

"No," Drew said, moving to grab glasses from the cupboard. "She went to work with me this morning." He retrieved the glasses and set them on the counter. "Water?" he asked May.

"Yes, please."

Gary sighed. "Good old Oak Enterprises."

Drew placed the glass down in front of where May sat at the counter and took a seat next to her. She grabbed the glass and took a sip.

"Apparently you used to work there?" she asked.

"Yeah," Gary said, before taking another bite of his sandwich. "My grandfather owns the company."

May paused immediately, her eyes widening with absolute surprise. Gary looked taken aback by her surprise and paused as well, before swallowing the food in his mouth.

"You didn't know?" he asked.

"No!" she exclaimed.

"Was I not mentioned at all today?" Gary questioned lazily.

"Well, yes, actually," she said. She took another sip of her water. "I talked to Ash and—"

Gary sighed again, interrupting her. "Good old Ash."

"He said," she continued, "that you wrote 'Ash is a loser' all over the building."

Gary immediately burst out in laughter, his palms flat against the counter. "Classic."

Drew drank from his glass to stop himself from chuckling, because May clearly didn't think it was funny.

"Ash is really nice," she said defensively.

"I know," Gary said. "I did it out of love. Out of brotherly love. I swear." He took another bite of his sandwich. "How's Leaves?" he asked, effectively changing the subject.

"She's fine," May answered warily. "Haven't you talked to her?"

Gary didn't answer for a very long time before saying, "No," at the same time May said, "Gary."

He shrugged defensively. "What?"

"You haven't talked to her since she left?" May asked.

"No," Gary reiterated.

"You didn't get her number?" Drew asked.

Gary's eyes fastened on Drew for the first time during the conversation. "It didn't come up."

" _How—_ " May wondered.

"Do you have May's number?" Gary asked his roommate.

There was a slight silence, and Drew turned to look at May, who was already staring at him.

"No," Drew admitted. "It hasn't come up." Gary's eyebrows shot up and Drew cut him off before he got the chance to rub it in. "We talk through the wall."

Gary stared at them, his face the epitome disappointed disbelief. He took a gulp from his drink. "That's the most barbaric thing I've ever heard." His mind struggled with this concept briefly. "What if you need to get in contact with each other? What if neither of you are home?"

Drew shrugged and brought his glass to his lips. "Smoke signals."

His confidence soared when he received a few giggles from May.

Gary feigned offense. "The advancement of technological communication isn't a joke, Drew." He broke into a grin before taking out his phone. "Alright, Cottontail. I'm going to need that number."

* * *

May changed her position on her bed for what must have been the fortieth time that night. There was a knot in her stomach that she was attempting to ignore but couldn't. She lay on her back, her hands clasped over her stomach, and stared at her ceiling in the darkness.

This was ridiculous.

He was only on the other side of the wall.

Her mind was telling her that she'd forgotten what he looked like and needed to see him immediately to update her memory. She was telling herself anything she could that would cause her to get out of bed and find her neighbor.

What if he was in danger?

That's stupid. He's not in danger.

But what if he _was_?

Hm… That's a really good point.

She sat up in her bed and wrestled with her mind. She didn't need to see him, no matter how pleasantly comforting it would be.

She checked her phone. 1:07. If she went over there now, she would look absolutely desperate.

But if she didn't, she would never go to sleep.

May gave in and slipped off of her bed before digging in her bottom drawer to find a pair of socks. Before long, she found herself maneuvering through the darkness of her apartment to her front door and entering the hallway.

May stood outside of apartment 214, her tired eyes screaming at her to go back to bed but her feet planted firmly on the ground. She let her eyes analyze the dents in the door, as a way to waste time. Hopefully she would lose the courage that led her from under her blankets. Hopefully she would swallow the nagging aches in her stomach and find a way to fall asleep anyway.

The brunette felt especially vulnerable standing in the hallway in an oversized t-shirt and socks, and she hugged herself for comfort.

 _Let's just get this over with_ , she thought.

She raised her fist and knocked quietly on the door. If he was meant to hear her, he would hear her.

May waited in tense silence in front of the door, rocking on her heels. She heard no commotion going on inside the apartment and attempted to keep her heart from sinking.

 _He's probably sleeping_ , she justified. _I should probably be sleeping_.

Just then, the locks behind the door jostled and clicked, along with her nerves. There was almost not enough time to prepare herself for whom she had come to see.

Drew opened the door slightly slowly, and she could feel a silent breath escape from her lips. It was like the storm inside her was calmed. It was like her fever broke.

He was wearing a grey t-shirt. His hair was slightly tousled. His eyes were soft and examining. Drew watched her for a few seconds before leaning on the door frame.

"Is everything okay?" he questioned, his voice a nighttime murmur.

"Yeah," May breathed.

Drew's eyes slowly shifted to the distant, distracted state she was so used to seeing now. May wondered what could possibly be occupying his thoughts so as to buffer his piercing gaze.

"Did you just want to see me?" he asked.

"No," May answered guiltily and vaguely.

A smile crept over Drew's features. "So, what's up?"

Her mind attempted to grasp at any excuse she could find that would suffice for why she would knock on her neighbors door past midnight. One of their first encounters appeared in her mind.

"Theres… a spider—" she began.

Drew's eyebrows shot up. "Oh."

"—in my…" she maintained eye contact while she struggled to find a spider-plausible location, "…bedroom."

Drew's expression did not change, and she realized what her answer could insinuate.

"I mean—" she started.

They spoke over each other.

"Are you—" Drew said.

"No, no, no! That's just—"

"—trying to seduce me?"

"—where it happens to be."

May cleared her throat and pretended not to notice how badly her cheeks were burning. Otherwise, she maintained her composure.

"Can you get it?" she asked him.

He waited for a few seconds before responding. "Yeah."

He didn't move. She didn't, either.

"Okay," she confirmed.

"Alright," he replied.

She maintained cautious eye contact before turning left and walking towards her apartment. Her traitor heart beat faster as she heard the front door to his apartment close quietly. As she felt Drew's presence following close behind her.

May concentrated on steadying her fingers as she inserted the key into the lock. Why was she so nervous? She wanted to see him and that's exactly what was happening. She was seeing him. What was the problem?

His breathing echoed in the long, empty hallway, and every exhale seemed to pump serenity through her veins. It was reassuring that he was here, living, with her instead of existing behind a wall.

The door opened in front of her, and she flicked on the light switch beside her door. Drew was quiet behind her, and the click of the closing door was the only noticeable sound in the apartment.

She turned around to face him and watched as his eyes glanced around the room intently. It occurred to her that he'd never seen her apartment before. He looked to his right briefly before locking eyes with May and pointing in the same direction.

"Is your room over there?"

"Yeah," May confirmed.

She let him walk past her and watched as his socked feet made muffled steps across her hardwood floor. The way he moved in her apartment was comforting; he seemed to exist in the place naturally.

May followed him down the short, dark hallway and watched as he illuminated her room with a light switch that mirrored the placement of his.

"Where's the spider?" he asked.

 _Oh._

"Oh," May said.

Drew turned around to look at her expectantly.

"It was," she continued, pointing to her left, "on that wall."

Drew turned to examine the wall for the small, imaginary creature. "You don't seem very urgent about this," he said nonchalantly.

Her mind raced to find a suitable reply. "I'm just… tired."

Drew hummed in response, his eyes still scouring the wall for the spider. "I don't see anything."

"Oh," May said. Drew turned around to face her completely, his face entirely skeptical. "Did I say bedroom?"

"Yes."

"I meant…" the brunette trailed, "my… closet." She paused slightly. "Or something," she mumbled quickly.

Drew stared at her in disbelief, a smirk crossing his lips. She couldn't stop herself from grinning. He understood her game.

"Your closet?"

"Yeah."

Drew didn't break eye contact. "You really want me to check your closet."

"Yes."

A few more seconds passed by. "Okay."

She watched as he went to open her closet door, before turning on the light. He checked the walls. The ceiling. The floor.

"Nothing," he said, turning to face her.

"Oh," she said. "Weird."

"Weird," Drew replied softly, a distant look once again clouding his eyes.

"It was probably just the wind or something," the brunette mumbled. She basked in the feeling of her heart being full and at ease at the same time.

"Yeah, probably," Drew responded, grinning. Dazed.

She pursed her lips, unsure of how to fill the heavy silence.

"Go to sleep, Maple," Drew said. "You're going to want to be ready for that phone call tomorrow."

The brunette's eyebrows immediately furrowed. "What phone call tomorrow?"

Drew continued grinning, as he turned around to leave her room. He made his way through the hallway and to the front door without answering her question.

"Drew," May pleaded.

He opened the door to exit the apartment, and looked back at her smugly. "Goodnight, Maple."

* * *

 **That was a bit longer than usual. Possibly the longest chapter to date. As always, don't be afraid to let me know what you think so far. Thanks, everyone. Remember to review!**

 **X**


	13. Chapter 13

**Wow. Here I am, almost a full 3 months later. Are you guys still here? Are you still reading this? Wow, thanks for sticking with me with all of my horribly late updates. Kudos to you guys! But man, I've been writing this chapter for a while! There was just a lot going on here and it took me a while to piece it all together. I worked on this for like five straight hours today because I just wanted to get it done. But I really like this chapter! Hopefully it makes you laugh, because it's definitely made me laugh. Also I think this is the longest one to date. Let me know what you think. Thanks for STILL reading this!**

 **In response to Forevershine: Hahaha! Sorry about that last time! Every time I read this review, I crack up. This chapter should definitely be better for you. Slightly. (Ha, sorry!) And I did love Gary! I'm still figuring out who he is as a person, but good news! You're about to read about more nonchalant Gary in like a couple seconds! That's right. He's in this chapter, too. He'll also have a few fundamental scenes later. But we're not there yet! Hahahaha omg. "She can't even mentally function straight at home." Hahaha she totally can't. What a mess. It'll all get straightened out. I promise!**

 **In response to Just a fan: Hello! Thank you so much for reviewing! I can't remember if you've reviewed before, but you're name doesn't sound familiar to me, so I think that was your first review! If it wasn't, please forgive me. I haven't been here in a while. But I really appreciate you telling me what you think! I will NEVER stop updating this! Trust me! What I have planned is way too good to just throw away! I hope you somehow stumble upon this update within the next few days and keep on reading! Thanks so much for the support!**

 **In response to Magenta Ruby: Heyyy! Another review from you! Lol I totally know how it feels to watch two months fly by. (Or three. haha.) Yay thank you thank you thank you! I really love playing around with their dialogue. It's fun. Until I don't know what they're supposed to say and then I have writer's block forever. But I hope this chapter is pleasing to you, too! I'm sure you'll like it!**

 **Alright, everyone! Here we go. Welcome to Chapter 13.**

* * *

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Who is this?"

Gary scoffed, genuinely offended. "Leaves," he said incredulously.

There was a slight pause on her end of the line. "Gary?"

"The one and only."

Gary sat on the swivel chair in his room, his phone pressed to his ear. The lamp light on his desk illuminated his room dimly. He spun slightly back and forth out of boredom, his feet planted firmly on the ground.

"Why are you calling me?" Leaf wondered.

Gary shrugged although she couldn't see it, holding his phone between his ear and his shoulder. He picked up a glass globe from his desk and examined it between his fingers.

"I was thinking about you."

Leaf was silent for a few seconds, and each second actively fed Gary's fiery ego.

"Are you bored?" she asked simply.

His ego was mildly dampened before it flared back up again. It took a little more than that to subdue Gary Oak.

"I just want to know more about you," he replied calmly.

He swallowed and twisted silently in his chair as he awaited Leaf's reply. None came. So he spoke again.

"Tell me about yourself," he beckoned. He waited briefly before continuing. "What's your last name?"

Gary stared at the glass ball that was rotating between his fingertips as he waited for her to break her stubborn silence. His gaze shifted from the sphere to something in the distance when he heard her voice.

"Green," she stated.

He placed the ball on his desk and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Leaf answered.

"Leaf Green?" he asked incredulously, holding back chuckles. "That sounds like a video game or something."

"Alright, Gary," she said in warning.

"What's next?" Gary continued. "Water blue? Lightning yellow?"

"Gary."

"Fire red—"

"Is this why you called me?" she asked. "Did you just call me to make fun of my name?"

"No," he admitted, "but while I have you on the phone I thought I might," he shrugged, "squeeze that in."

"You're really funny, Gary," Leaf said in an obviously sarcastic way.

"Thanks," he answered genuinely. "Thank you."

His mind raced for something to say, but he was coming up with nothing. He told himself to calm down. And pretend that she was just anyone else.

"Ask me something," he murmured.

He heard Leaf clear her throat. And when she spoke, something in her voice had changed. "Okay." Light pause. "You have a nice car."

"Yes," he said.

"A really nice car," Leaf continued.

"This isn't a question."

"And you work at the university."

"Questions, Leaves _,"_ Gary reminded her.

"Do you…" she gave a slight 'um' as she rephrased her question. "Is your family… the Oak family?"

Gary stopped swiveling in his chair.

"Like," Leaf continued, " _the_ Oak family?"

"Yeah."

"So, you own Oakidex? The company?" she wondered.

"Well, my grandpa does," Gary admitted. He paused, and raised an eyebrow. "Did you Google me?"

Leaf was silent for far too long, and Gary burst out into loud laughter.

"That's a violation of my privacy, Ms. Green," he said.

"Gary—"

"I feel violated—"

"Shut up," she said. "I was just doing research." She took a deep breath. "Why'd you leave?"

"The company?"

"Yeah."

Gary shrugged and swiveled in his chair once more. "I couldn't do sales forever. I wanted to discover something for myself. So I quit and started paleontology." He smirked. "But we don't have to talk about science. I know what that does to you."

He would've given anything to see her face when he said that. He let her simmer before speaking.

"Tell me how you met May," he said.

"May?"

"Yeah. Tell me how you know each other."

"Oh," Leaf said. "Well, we live down the street from each other."

"Really," he said.

"Yeah," she said. "I think we met in first grade. We both rode the bus in the morning. And on the first day of school she forgot her sandwich." Gary tapped his finger on the wood of his desk as she spoke. "I gave her half of mine. And… the rest is history."

"Are you serious?"

"Yep."

"And you were instantly best friends?"

Leaf hummed a cute affirmative. "Still are."

Gary stood up from his chair and began pacing his room. "That doesn't make any sense."

"What?" Leaf asked defensively. "How _doesn't_ that make sense."

Gary heard a few feeble knocks against the front door of the apartment and opted to let Drew answer it. A few seconds later, he heard his roommates' door open, followed by his footsteps to the kitchen.

"Is everything okay?" he heard Drew ask after a moment.

"Okay," Gary admitted. "It's not so much that it doesn't make sense. It's just that the plot is horrible."

"That wasn't a movie, Gary."

"Thank _God_."

"Well, how did you meet Drew?" Leaf challenged, choosing to ignore his last comment.

"We were roommates in college," Gary said.

"Oh," Leaf said pleasantly.

"We hated each other."

" _Oh_."

Gary smirked. That plot twist always worked on people.

"I thought he was an asshole." Gary stared at his lamp, then let his eyes wander blankly around the room. "But we both hated our _other_ roommate, so we got over it."

"Why?" Leaf asked. "What was the other guy like?"

"Annoying as fuck," Gary answered. "He actually works at Oakidex, in Drew's department. I don't know how he does it."

He heard the front door close, and figured Drew had left, considering he didn't hear anything else inside the apartment.

"I like my story better," Leaf said.

Gary laughed again, turning around abruptly and ruffling his spiky hair. "You're kidding."

"Mine is a lot cuter," she said matter-of-factly, as if this were an obvious advantage.

He grinned, and shook his head at nothing in particular, clutching his phone to his ear. He stared at his feet, before looking up at his window.

"I have another question," he said.

"Okay," Leaf said.

"When are you coming back?"

Leaf was silent. For a few seconds. "Not for a while, probably."

"Why not? Why don't you live with May?"

"I'm not designed for the city," she said simply.

" _Leaves_ ," he said, exasperated. He ran his hand roughly down his face.

"You sound frustrated," she observed.

"I am frustrated," he admitted.

"Why?"

Gary sat on his bed, staring at his extended fingers before slowly closing them into a fist.

"You confuse me," he said.

"Why," Leaf answered calmly.

He clenched his jaw, resting his hand on his forehead as he contemplated his answer.

"You don't make any sense to me."

Leaf's voice paused briefly. "That… means the same thing."

He sighed audibly, running his hand down his face and flopping back onto his bed in frustration. "I don't like doing this."

"Doing what?" Leaf asked.

Gary's eyes emptily examined several different spots on his ceiling. He didn't like not being dominant in a conversation. He didn't like being exposed. "I'm not good at this."

"But you're good at everything," Leaf reminded him.

"I know," he answered, his eyes closed. His hand rested limply across his forehead. _Obviously_.

"You're Gary Oak."

"I know."

"So, what's the problem," Leaf murmured to him. Gary clenched his jaw. Her voice was soothing and calcuolatory. She was examining him. Dissecting.

"Talking to you is just different."

He opened his eyes again and stared at his ceiling, awaiting her answer. It never came. He swallowed his pride.

"You're too far away," he said.

Leaf took in his words painfully slowly, and each second Gary spent exposed was absolute agony.

"I can't fix that right now," she said softly.

"I know."

"Thanks for telling me that," she murmured.

He didn't reply. He regretted saying anything at all. Instead, he closed his eyes and waited for her to keep speaking. He smiled when she did.

"And talking to you is different for me, too."

* * *

"Look at me."

She stared down at the porcelain sink of her bathroom, gripping the sides so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"Hey."

She took a deep breath.

"Look at me."

The brunette looked up at her reflection in the bathroom mirror with a demeanor of sheer determination.

"You've got this," she said to herself. "You've got this. You're going to nail this." She shifted her weight between her feet, building up momentum but going nowhere. "You're going to kick butt. You're going to take names." She stared into her own blue eyes, desperate for motivation. "You're going to kick butt and take names and nail _everything_ to a _wall_."

She paused briefly, then started nodding with intensity.

"Yeah," she whispered.

She wished Leaf were here to give her a brief confidence boost, but she wasn't. So she checked her makeup herself.

Eyeliner? Dangerous.

Mascara? Deadly.

Hair flip?

She flicked her hair behind her shoulder in one swift motion.

Hot.

"I'm ready," she said aloud before marching out of her bathroom and grabbing her purse with confidence.

She strode out into her hallway, half expecting to see her neighbor at his door, although she knew he was already at work. She made quick work of both sets of stairs leading to the street outside of her building.

The weather was perfect. She pretended that the fruit stand guy would toss her an apple, although she knew he wouldn't. The pedestrian light gave her the go ahead as soon as she stepped on the curb to cross the street. May couldn't see them, but she knew the stars were aligned.

She stood outside of Oak Enterprises, the light fragrance of roses from Delia's Flower Shop lifting her spirits even further. May's fists were rested confidently at her waist as she stared at the golden numbers _952_ that were printed on the building to indicate the address. She straightened her suit jacket and took a confident step towards the doors.

 _Let's do it._

She remembered how busy and intimidating the lobby looked to her the first time she was in it. It was relatively empty now, seeing as the work day had already started.

May pressed the button that called the elevator and waited, almost shaking with excitement. The elevator reached her relatively quickly and she let its passengers exit into the lobby before entering alone.

The brunette stared at the digital number inside the lift as it climbed to fourteen, her fingers tapping nervously against her legs. It sailed smoothly through the numbers one through four before slowing and halting on the fifth floor.

On this floor awaited one person, whom she recognized immediately. The blonde entered the elevator with a smile, a manila folder clutched to her chest. A dainty finger pressed the button for the thirteenth floor.

She turned to May, her smile widening. "It's Mary, right?"

"May," the brunette replied curtly.

The blonde's grin sweetened, as if to say, " _Right_."

"Daisy," she said reintroducing herself.

The elevator doors closed, and suddenly the space felt very tense with just the two of them in it. Suddenly, Daisy stepped forward and ran her hand down every button on the panel between five and thirteen. Then she stepped back and looked at May.

The elevator sounded, announcing its arrival to the sixth floor. No one was there to enter.

"You're Drew's neighbor," Daisy stated.

The empty hallway stared at them, and May refused to answer, assessing the situation. She suddenly felt very threatened.

Daisy's green eyes were like daggers and absolute toxic compared to Drew's.

"Do you like him?" she asked bluntly.

May stared back, guarded completely. Her heart stammered, but she tried to keep her discomfort secluded. The elevator doors closed, but the brunette didn't break eye contact. They jolted slightly as the elevator rose to stop at the next floor.

"He told me he doesn't like brunettes," Daisy said pointedly.

The elevator sounded, once again opening to no one on the seventh floor.

"He told me he doesn't like blondes," May shot back calmly. She could feel absolute anger simmering inside her. Who did this girl think she was? What had May done to her?

Daisy's eyebrows shot up in slight shock, cocking her head to the side. "Really. So why was I over—" her last three words were slowly articulated, "— _all_ the _time_."

May clenched her fists at her side and glared holes into the closing elevator doors. She could feel her face growing red from embarrassment, anger, accusation. She was picturing Daisy in his room. _Daisy's_ hands in his hair. _Daisy_ in his arms. May suddenly felt very sick, and remembered that she'd heard her leave his apartment not long after she moved in. She could feel herself beginning to question every stupid word he'd ever said to her. Then stopped herself, not knowing what to believe.

" _Look_ ," the brunette said, still facing the front of the elevator. "I don't know _what_ you think—"

"I'm just saving you a lot of heartache," Daisy said dismissively, as the elevator approached the eighth floor. "I've known Drew for a long time. You're not his type."

The doors to the elevator opened, and a stoic looking guy with medium-length purple hair stood waiting for the elevator. His dark eyes glanced quickly at May, then Daisy, his expression unchanging and uninterested. Right before he took a step inside, Daisy stopped him with an outstretched hand.

"Sorry, Paul," she said. "We're at capacity."

He stared at her for a solid second. "Are you shitting me?"

She pulled her hand back. "No," she said. "I think the _stairs_ are empty."

Daisy pushed the button to close the elevator doors, Paul standing furiously still on the other side.

"Are you fucking kidding—"

He was cut off by the closed elevator doors. May heard an angry but muffled _Daisy!_ Then a resounding booming sound. He probably punched the elevator door, which May also felt like doing.

"Where'd you get your marketing degree, again?" the blonde asked snidely.

May didn't reply, knowing that her filter was absolutely destroyed by the amount of sheer rage she was feeling. Her fingernails dug into her palms and her face felt as if it were on fire.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," Daisy said.

The two arrived to the next floor and were silent as it opened and as it closed again.

May tried to control her breathing, as each breath grew steadily heavier.

"He's moving, you know," Daisy said.

"What do you want," she managed to say between her teeth, ignoring the stab of pain she felt in her heart.

"I just don't want you to get your hopes up," the blonde said bluntly. "You just met." The elevator doors opened. Tenth floor. "He's using you. He's good at it. I promise."

That was enough. May angrily took a step to exit the elevator. Any amount of stairs would be better than this torture.

"Don't bother," Daisy said. She stopped May with her arm. "We're done here."

And she strode out of the elevator, her blonde hair bouncing behind her as she made her way down the hall.

May stared after her, her heart completely crippled in her chest. The elevator doors closed.

She wasn't right, was she?

She stared at the silver doors in absolute fury. Anguish.

Was Drew using her?

The elevator rose. Opened. Closed. No one entered.

May felt violated. Was he taking advantage of her?

It didn't matter. They were just neighbors anyway. Nothing more. It didn't matter.

She felt her heart crush despite how much anger she was feeling. Did he really have a thing with Daisy? Did he tell her the same things? Did he look at her the same way?

May reached the twelfth floor. Doors opened. Closed. She started rising again.

She was so frustrated she wanted to scream, but knew she couldn't because the sound would echo through the floors and it would be very difficult to explain it once she got off.

For the remainder of her tedious elevator ride, May suppressed her thoughts. She stopped herself from thinking about Daisy. From thinking about her neighbor. From thinking about the things they'd supposedly done together. Because none of it mattered. Not even the tears prickling the backs of her eyes. Not even the way her heart was cracking.

She got off of the elevator and, in a hushed voice, asked the person at the front desk to point her in the direction of the nearest bathroom. It was to the right. She said thank you and walked as quickly as she could to her destination.

May burst through the door, feeling her defensive shell disintegrate with every step. And suddenly she was feeling the blow of every hurtful thing Daisy had said to her. She didn't even have a marketing degree. How was she supposed to go in for an interview?

The brunette placed her purse on the floor and stared into the sink for the second time that day.

"Don't you do it, Maple," she whispered to herself. "Don't you cry right now." She could see her vision growing blurry. "Don't you cry when you have an interview in twenty minutes."

But the tears started flowing, against her wishes. She didn't even say anything back to her. She just took all of her blows like a punching bag. But punching bags are firmer and stronger and would have probably received a marketing degree before applying for the marketing department of one of the biggest corporations in the country.

Her breaths were heavy and ragged, and she felt weak. Manipulated. By the person she trusted the most in this city.

She heard the bathroom door open and her heart stammered in a panic. _Oh no_.

She looked up into the mirror to see a slender girl with blue hair, who had a look of utmost concern on her face. May looked at her own reflection and felt the rest of her courage diminish.

Eyeliner? Smudged.

Mascara? Ruined.

Eyes? Puffy and red and gross.

"Are you okay?" the other girl asked, her voice slightly raspy. Was she sick? She didn't seem to be.

"Um," May answered, wondering how she could possibly respond.

"Here," the blue haired girl said, swiftly grabbing a few pieces of paper towel and wetting them with water before dabbing at May's face.

The brunette stared at her with amazement, wondering how she could have possibly had two completely different experiences with strangers over the course of ten minutes.

The girl's eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh! You're that girl! From the meeting a couple of days ago."

May averted her eyes, looking down instead of making eye contact. "Yeah."

"Do you work here?" She stopped patting May's face with the paper towel and handed it over to her. "I don't think we've met. I'm Dawn."

The brunette stared at her, skeptical of her kindness, before dabbing at her own red nose. "May." She paused slightly. "I don't work here."

Dawn's eyebrows furrowed. "What? Then how were you—"

"I, uh—" Drew's face immediately flashed across her mind. "I'm Drew's neighbor."

Dawn blinked. "Oh. Where did you work before?"

May smiled slightly. "I… I've never—"

Dawn gasped dramatically, reminding her of Leaf. "You've never done marketing before?"

The brunette shook her head meekly.

The girl's face lit up. "Your idea is the best that has ever hit that conference room."

May laughed, relieved to feel something positive again. "I doubt it."

"No, seriously," Dawn encouraged. "That was brilliant. I'm surprised Solidad didn't hire you on the spot."

May scratched at her face shyly. "Well, I have an interview in like seventeen minutes."

Dawn's eyes widened with panic. "But your makeup—"

The brunette sniffled and groaned. "I know."

"Don't worry," Dawn said, opening up her purse and plopping it onto the sink. "I'll fix it for you." She tapped the countertop, signaling for May to take a seat. She did and watched Dawn run her fingers under cold water.

"So why were you so upset?" Dawn asked, shaking off the water from her fingers and looking up to dab at May's eyes with her cold fingertips.

The brunette stared over Dawn's head as she stood before her, tending to her face.

"I just ran into someone in the elevator," she said.

"Who was it?" Dawn wondered.

"Daisy."

Dawn halted immediately, and stared May in the eyes. "Daisy Waterflower?"

May shrugged. "I guess so."

Dawn huffed angrily. "She's already patronizing you? You don't even work here!"

May stayed silent, as she would much rather forget the incident entirely.

"What did she say?" Dawn asked pointedly.

May averted her eyes, immediately determining a way to avoid the question completely. She'd rather not delve into the complication that was Drew with someone she didn't necessarily know.

"Was it about Drew?" Dawn asked.

The brunette's eyes flicked up to meet hers out of sheer surprise. How could she have possibly known?

"I just figured it was," she clarified. "Seeing as you're his neighbor and there were rumors about the two of them floating around the office for a while."

May swallowed to distract herself from the sinking feeling that was in her heart.

Dawn reached in her bag and pulled out a tube of cream and began rubbing it into May's face with her fingertips. She assumed it was primer.

"Whatever she said," Dawn continued, "I wouldn't listen. She was probably just jealous."

"There's nothing to be jealous of," May muttered.

Dawn was reaching into her purse to grab a bottle of foundation when she paused and looked at May pointedly, eyebrows raised.

"May," she said definitively.

"There isn't," the brunette insisted stubbornly.

Dawn used her wrist as a palette for foundation and began applying it to May's face.

"Girl, I was sitting right behind him for the _entire_ meeting." She dabbed at her hand to retrieve more foundation before tending once again to May's face. "And I don't think he looked at anyone in the room besides you."

May's heart thudded in her chest. She looked intently at Dawn's face with pure hope marking her features. "Really," she breathed almost silently.

Dawn smiled. "Yes." She reached in her bag for a makeup brush and began blending the shades into May's face.

May closed her eyes and let the brush sweep across her features.

"I've never seen him smile so much," Dawn continued quietly.

May felt her soul calm down entirely, and she released some remaining tension with a sigh. But Daisy's words rang in her mind: _He's using you. He's good at it. I promise_.

The brush suddenly stopped.

"Keep your eyes closed," Dawn instructed.

Shortly after, May felt the cold sensation of liquid eyeliner on her lash line. She wanted to tell Dawn everything on her heart. All of the emotions she wasn't sure about and the ones she didn't know what to do with.

"Are you ready for your interview?" Dawn asked.

May exhaled. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"Look up," Dawn said. May acquiesced. "You'll be fine. I promise. If Drew likes you, I guarantee Solidad does, too. Just forget about everything Daisy told you, and you'll be okay." Dawn capped her eyeliner and brought out her mascara. "Look at me." May did, and she applied it to her eyelashes. "Just remember that marketing is all about the product and the audience. And making the product likable. Which is probably really easy for you."

May smiled, and let Dawn's compliments refuel her confidence. The entire time she was in the city, she longed for someone to physically be there for her when Leaf couldn't be. And it finally felt like she found that.

"You're all done!" She took a step back to admire her work. "And your hair looks great," Dawn added.

May giggled, the sound reverberating off of the walls. She hopped off of the counter and looked at herself in the mirror. Her makeup was even better than before, but somehow more subtle. It was also impossible to tell that she had been crying five minutes before. Her eyelashes seemed to go on for miles and her blush complimented her skin tone. "Thanks, Dawn!" She gave the girl a grateful hug, and they swayed together. The brunette released her and smiled. "But you're the one with the cool hair."

Dawn grabbed her own blue hair to bring it into her line of vision. "Yeah, it's pretty cool."

May admired how thick and soft it seemed to be and wondered how she managed to keep it that way. "Did you know Drew's hair isn't dyed?" She surprised herself with how quickly her mind seemed to return to him.

Dawn's face dropped. "Shut up," she said in disbelief.

May shrugged, grinning. "It's true." She made her way towards the exit of the bathroom, her new friend following her.

" _How?_ " Dawn wondered, exasperated. "I could've _sworn_ —"

"Nope," May said.

They exited and the cool air of the office immediately swept across May's cheeks. It was so nice to be able to renew her opinion towards the place and replenish the confidence she had in her own capability.

"You know," Dawn continued, "I've always wondered why he would've chosen to dye it green. But it kind of works for him."

They approached the front desk and Dawn rubbed May's shoulder in support.

"You'll do great," she whispered before walking away and leaving a berry scent behind her.

May gathered all of her courage and stood up straight as she spoke to the receptionist. It was so strange to her that she originally planned to sit in that chair, but now she was applying for marketing.

"I have an appointment with Solidad at noon," she said.

The receptionist nodded and immediately began typing into her computer. "Alright," she said, dragging out the word to fill the empty silence as she finished up her input. "Okay. You're all set!" She began standing up from her chair. "I'll take you to her office."

May let herself be led by the receptionist to the office she'd seen only once before. They walked down carpeted aisle between the cubicles, and May looked to her right, remembering where Ash's little station was located. He was there, talking to a potential client on the phone. He saw her and immediately lit up, waving happily and giving her a thumbs up. She gave a happy thumbs up in reply.

 _You're going to nail this interview_ , she told herself.

 _You're going to nail it to a_ wall.

May concentrated on her mini confidence boost as she was led toward the head of the marketing department. Her eyes scanned the sea of cubicles, and before she could stop herself from searching, she locked eyes with the green dragon eyes she'd grown to adore.

 _He's good at it. I promise_.

May instantly averted her eyes, Daisy's words echoing in her mind.

 _Don't think about it, May_. She told herself. _Just think about the awesome interview that you're going to crush with your bare hands and your winning personality_.

"Here it is," the receptionist said. She knocked on the door and promptly opened it.

May entered the room, walking past the young woman as she held the door open for her.

"Good luck," she said, before closing the door with a small _click_.

Solidad's hands were clasped together on top of her desk. Her black pantsuit was strong and intimidating, and May couldn't stop staring at her shoulder pads.

 _Here we go_.

"Miss Maple!" she greeted. "It's a pleasure to see you again." She gestured with a nonchalant wave of her hand. "Please have a seat."

* * *

That was weird.

Drew laid back in his chair, staring at the back of May's head as she entered Sol's office for her interview.

She barely looked at him. And she looked at him like she touched a hot stove.

He sat back in his chair and chewed his lip in thought. Had he done something? No. He couldn't have. The last time he'd seen her was the night before.

Drew exhaled and swiveled in his chair slightly, scratching at his ear. He felt uneasy. Vastly so. But, nevertheless, he turned his attention back to his computer screen and continued the important email he was supposed to send. He was on the team to begin research regarding the possibility of May's idea. Oakidex would need a partnership with a large cell phone manufacturer. And it would also need funding. So he was in the middle of getting the accounting department to punch numbers for him.

Her idea the other day really was phenomenal. It was something even he, he had to admit, probably wouldn't have thought of. It was one of those ideas that could end up changing the world as they knew it, and it had just come to her immediately. Naturally. Like she was made to do this.

His eyes flicked back up to stare at Solidad's door. He couldn't see through the opaque glass, but he could see the foggy silhouette of May's figure on the other side.

Drew stopped typing suddenly and stood up from his chair. Before he knew it, his legs were carrying towards his friend in sales.

Ash was on the phone, writing furiously on a note pad, when he looked up at Drew, who was leaning over his cubicle. Drew motioned for Ash to hang up, and Ash stared at him in pure disbelief. Drew stared back, eyebrows raising slightly in a challenge. Ash returned the challenge briefly before giving up with a sigh, apologizing to the person on the phone, and putting them on hold.

"This better be good, Drew," Ash said immediately.

"Quick question," Drew started.

"What?" Ash wondered.

Drew contemplated how to phrase his question in the best way possible. The last thing he wanted was for Ash to make any inferences about Drew's relationship with his neighbor.

"Did you see May this morning?" he asked simply.

"Yeah," Ash said through an exhale. "Why?"

"Did she look… nervous?" he interrogated.

"Nope," Ash said, with a frown. "She smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up."

Drew patted the top of Ash's cubicle definitively. "Thanks."

A look of wonder overcame Ash's features. "Uh… okay."

Drew walked back to his desk, clenching his jaw.

Yep. She was upset with him.

But why?

Drew sat back down in his chair and ran his hands through his hair. An uncomfortable sense of dread was seeping into his bloodstream. He couldn't bear the thought of May being upset with him, even if it was for something he hadn't even done. His eyes flicked up to his unsent email, his mind whirring with things that had nothing to do with work. She'd given Ash a smile, but she barely even looked at him.

He sat back in his chair, his fingers drumming against his desk before finding his rubber band ball and rolling it lightly. He'd have to fix this. Obviously.

He skimmed what was already written in his email to the accounting department, figured it was good enough, and pressed send.

Then he pushed himself away from his desk and walked calmly to the elevators. He pressed the button to summon it.

"I'm taking my lunch break," he said to the receptionist.

The young woman nodded, and she scribbled something on a notepad.

The bell of the elevator rang and he stepped inside before hitting the button to the ground floor.

* * *

Solidad smiled. "Well, May, it was a pleasure to see you again." She extended a hand to May. "We'll be in contact with you soon."

May beamed, her confidence jolting to her fingertips and toes. She shook Solidad's hand. "Of course. It was a pleasure."

She stood up and let herself out of the office, and her eyes immediately jumped to Drew's cubicle, only to see that it was empty. She felt a sigh of relief, as she definitely didn't want to talk to him at the moment. The brunette continued down the pathway that would lead her back to the front of the office, giving Ash another thumbs up before making a right.

Loud clapping from Ash caused her to look over her shoulder to see him applauding her. May laughed and put a finger to her lips to silence him.

Still, the clapping ensued, accompanied by a "Woo!" or two. May immediately came to the conclusion that Ash didn't care what people thought about him at all, and also realized how he had been the perfect target for Gary.

She arrived at the front desk entirely flushed. She pressed the button for the elevator and stood up straight, her hands clasped in front of her.

The receptionist's phone rang, and the young woman answered it.

"Hello? Oh, he's on his break." Pause. "He took his break around ten minutes ago." Pause. "Yep! No problem."

May stared at the elevator doors, almost frozen in fear. Was she talking about Drew? She couldn't have been talking about Drew.

She watched the level of the elevator get closer and closer to fourteen. _9\. 10._

Right?

 _11._

May realized she didn't want to take the chance and immediately opted for the stairs on the left. She walked down the hallway as briskly as she could without calling attention to herself. She opened the door quietly and heard the echo of the _ding_ from the elevator's arrival ring through the hall.

"Welcome back, Drew," the receptionist said.

"Thanks."

May found herself suddenly flying down the stairs, hanging onto the railing for dear life. _Oh no. Oh no._ She rounded the landing and continued bolting down the stairs.

 _She had to get out of there_.

She opened the door to the thirteenth floor gently and tried to make it seem as though her heavy breathing was non-existent. She strolled calmly down the hall and hit the button for the elevator, tucking her hair behind her ear and smiling politely at the receptionist.

The elevator opened almost immediately, and she was relieved to find that it was empty. She hit the button for the ground floor, and sighed when the doors closed. She'd made it past him. And now she could just go home and never think about anything Daisy told her ever again for the rest of her life.

A few people stepped onto the elevator on the way down, but none that could cause May's heart to spur into a full panic. She made it to the ground floor and made a beeline for the huge doors at the front of the building, along with a number of other people.

As soon as she reached outside, she took in the fresh air, then looked behind her. Just to make sure.

She took out her phone and dialed Leaf's number.

Thankfully she picked up.

"Hello—"

"Leaf," May said, walking briskly towards her apartment building. Her shoes resounded nicely against the concrete.

"What's up?" her friend wondered.

"Leaf," May said again.

"What's going on?"

May took a couple of deep breaths and tried to organize her thoughts.

"Is it Drew?" Leaf wondered.

"Kind of."

"May Maple," Leaf warned, "if you don't explain to me what's going on right now—"

"I ran into this girl in the elevator this morning," May said suddenly. "She told me I wasn't good enough for the job—"

" _What._ "

"And that she… and Drew." May cleared her throat. "That they used to—"

" _No_ ," Leaf said.

"Yeah," May said pointedly. "And she said that he's using me."

May reached the crosswalk, and waited patiently for the pedestrian signal.

"Wow," Leaf said. There was a brief pause as she took in all of the information. "You don't believe any of that do you?"

"I believe some of it!" May exclaimed. "But the rest of it… I don't really know _what_ to believe."

Another moment of silence.

"Did you cry?" Leaf asked quietly.

"Yeah," May admitted softly. "I cried a lot." May blinked, recalling what she wanted so desperately to forget. "And she caught me right before my interview—"

"May," said a loud voice.

She turned around, to see green in between the crowds of people waiting for the crosswalk. Her heart thudded to an absolute halt, and she lowered her phone to her side. The crowd around her disbanded and she subconsciously assumed that the light had finally changed. She also subconsciously realized that she was probably in the way, but she couldn't possibly think about that. She couldn't think about any of that. And she waited for Drew to approach her.

He was the perfect height. He stood before her, slightly towering, and May wondered how she always managed to forget exactly what he looked like. Because every single time she was vividly reminded, it stunned her into silence.

A part of her heard a faint "May?" in Leaf's voice, but she couldn't bring herself to acknowledge it.

Drew touched her wrist and brought her closer to the side of the building, probably so they weren't in the way anymore.

"What's going on with you?" he asked her.

May couldn't answer. She couldn't explain to him everything she felt in the elevator this morning, and more importantly, why she'd felt it.

Drew's eyes examined hers, his eyebrows furrowing. He squinted slightly. "Were you crying?"

She swallowed, absolutely upset with how easily he was able to read her face. How could he see that? That was easily half an hour ago. _And_ she was wearing makeup.

"Do you want to talk?" he asked softly.

"No," May replied slightly above a whisper. She maintained eye contact.

Suddenly she was smelling something incredibly sweet, and she looked down to see a single red rose. Right in front of her nose. For her. From Drew.

She was so taken aback, that she gasped slightly. May looked up at him, expecting to see a smirk or something similar, but she saw nothing but worry. Concern.

"How did you know I loved roses?" she wondered, her voice barely audible.

"You told me," Drew said simply.

"No, I didn't."

He blinked, his face stoic. He took a couple of seconds to answer. "I just remembered how much you liked the ones at Delia's. And I thought you were upset with me." He searched her eyes for anything that would disagree with him, but he didn't find it. "Do you want to talk?"

Before May could reply, she heard faint squealing, and the look on Drew's face told her that he heard it, too.

"What is that," he mumbled.

And it suddenly occurred to May what the sound was. It was Leaf. Still on the line. Squealing because she'd just heard everything.

"I don't know," May lied, discreetly lowering the volume on her cell phone. She let her thumb subtly tap the button to end the call.

May absolutely dreaded this moment, and was upset that her plan to avoid him forever had failed yet again. Nevertheless, she realized that she did need answers, no matter how badly she did not want them. And the amount of unease etched into Drew's face was already beginning to dispel some of the things Daisy had said to her earlier. He truly cared. And she could see that.

She took the rose from him, her fingertips brushing against his palm. "Okay," she said. "Let's talk."

* * *

 **So that was Chapter 13! All 6,000 words of it! Man. I need to start the next chapter soon. Just to decrease update time. Anyway, thanks for reading guys. I would LOVE to know your thoughts! I try to respond to everyone, too! Thanks everyone! See you (hopefully) soon!**


	14. Chapter 14

**To all of the new readers, welcome! And to all of the veterans, welcome back! I am back with a longer chapter. I can see this wrapping up in about four chapters or so. Thanks for sticking with me! I hope this chapter flows really well. And that you're eager to finish reading this!**

 **I just wanted to say thank you for all of the favorites and follows I've gotten! I've noticed and have been really touched by them! And some of you read this and then delve right into my other stories, too. That just makes my heart glow, everyone.**

 **In response to Guest 1: Haha thanks for appreciating that video game joke! I'm so glad it fit right in with Leaf and Gary. I just felt like I couldn't leave it out!**

 **In response to Guest 2: Thank you so much for thinking my writing is beautiful. I'm just honored that you would want to read this!**

 **In response to Forevershine: Hahaha! Your reviews always crack me up! I'm glad I was able to send you on your voyage to your wonderland! Yeah, things are finally looking up! The skies are blueeee, everything is cute, and everyone is happy. Maybe. Haha! And we'll see how Gary ends up by the end of the story! I think you'll be able to live through it! Wow, the duck! That was so long ago, but yes, that's the same Daisy! I'll get into it a bit later, but jealousy is a really ugly thing. We'll talk about it soon! I can't wait to see your next review.**

 **In response to Just a Fan: Aw, I feel like Dawn and Paul's introduction really worked, too. And they both appeared in the same chapter! Even if they didn't talk. And yeah, I'm not a fan of Daisy, either. But I hope this chapter is just as enjoyable!**

 **In response to Guest 3: Oh wow! I remember reading this review a couple of weeks ago and totally dying of happiness. Don't freak out! The new update is here! All day long, I was thinking, "Wow! Someone thinks my characters have depth!" I was really happy. Thanks!**

 **In response to Magenta Ruby: Hahaha okay so that morning, I checked my email and saw I had five new reviews! And I was like: how? And then I realized that all five of them were from you lol. Thanks for putting yourself through all of that frustration just to tell me what you thought of the last chapter! Lol. Such dedication. Also, it means a lot that you can enjoy the Gary/Leaf even though you don't ship it yourself! And yeah, Leaf has been pretty different if every story I've read, too. So I kind of made up my own. I'm glad it works for you! And thank you for all of your nice words! I love your reviews, even if they can sometimes come in packages of five.**

 **Alright, everyone! Let's go. Here is Chapter 14.**

* * *

Drew continued to watch her, his eyebrows still wrinkled with worry.

"Do you want to go back to the building?" he asked. "There's a coffee shop in the lobby."

"Sure," May answered. The short walk back to the building was nothing less than uncomfortable. The two journeyed in a silence that was saturated with something May had seldom felt around Drew before. Unease.

She stared at her feet as they rhythmically hit the pavement. Her mind reach for a million different things to say. She picked one just to fill the space.

"Did you find someone to take over your lease yet?"

Her cheeks burned as her heart filled with regret. Why, of all of the questions brimming at the edge of her lips, was that the one that flew out?

She dared a glimpse at Drew, whose eyes were slightly widened with shock at her question.

He met her gaze briefly before looking away, his tone low. "No. But someone did come by yesterday."

Dagger. Dagger straight through the heart. She didn't want to know. Why did she ask?

"Oh, that's good," May said.

"Yeah." Drew paused slightly. "And I have someone scheduled for tomorrow."

Dagger.

"Oh, that's great."

"Yeah."

The amount of awkwardness that existed between them twenty seconds before was nothing compared to what they were wading through now. That was the worst conversation she'd ever had. may tried to make her ragged breathing inaudible. She put all of her focus into keeping her tears from blurring her vision, as Daisy's words cut through her.

 _He's moving, you know_.

Of course she knew that! It was one of the first things she knew about him! And frankly, it was something she often tried not to remind herself of.

Too bad she immediately brought it up the first chance she got.

Drew opened the door to the front of the building, and she saw the small coffee place he must have been referring to. They ventured to the right side of the lobby and entered the shop in complete silence. There wasn't a line, probably because everyone had already gotten their coffee fix for the day.

"Do you want anything?" Drew mumbled to May.

"No," she said back quietly.

May didn't look at him, but knew he spent a few seconds gauging her response before sighing and ordering his drink.

"One hot, black coffee, then," he said.

Drew handed over a few dollar bills to cover the price of the drink and received it almost immediately. Probably because it was just plain coffee in a cup.

May looked at it with disdain before turning around to look for a place to sit. There were little tables right outside of the coffee shop, located in the lobby.

"Can we sit out there?" May wondered.

Drew hummed an affirmative and followed close behind May as she opened the door. The tables were close to the corner of the building, and May chose the corner-most chair. She was facing the elevators from where she sat, and across the lobby to the left was the entrance to Delia's flower shop.

Drew sat across from her, bringing his coffee to his lips. May grimaced and he grinned immediately from behind his cup.

"What?" he asked.

"Do you really drink your coffee black?" May accused.

Drew put the cup down and smirked. "Yes." May could see how hard he was trying to keep himself from chuckling. "And you don't?"

"No," May said.

"I bet you load yours up with tons of sugar—"

"Well, _yeah_ —"

"And _creamer._ "

"Because that's what makes it worth drinking!"

He openly laughed this time, his head hanging as he tried to hide his smile. Her heart softened at the sight. Nothing was different. She'd seen this sight numerous times before. He was the same.

Drew looked up and pushed the cup towards her, an echo of a smile still softening his features. "Try it."

"No, thanks," May replied, pushing the cup slightly back in his direction.

Drew said nothing but raised an eyebrow as if to say "Please?" He pushed the cup back towards her slowly, and she challenged his stare before surrendering and picking up the cup. She twirled it within her grasp until she was staring directly at the small opening that had just supported his lips moments before. She tried not to think about it too much and brought it to her lips.

It was absolutely bitter.

She burst into laughter after only a few drops had washed across the surface of her tongue. She put the cup down on the table, closing her eyes and allowing herself to be overcome with giggles.

Drew was chuckling just at the sight of her. "What?"

"I hate it!" she exclaimed. "I hate it so much."

It was Drew's turn to laugh, louder than she'd heard in a while. Their voices bubbled together and echoed slightly in the lobby.

He ended his fit of chuckles with a sigh, and her giggles tapered out as well. Drew looked down at the table, his finger tapping against the cheap wood. His smile slowly died down to nothing. May could hear the mumbled voice of a woman talking somewhere across the lobby. She could hear the faint sound of the bell from the flower shop ringing through the space of the ground floor.

"So, what's going on?" Drew asked, his eyes flicking back up to her face. They were suddenly very serious serious and somber. She took it that he really didn't like it when they weren't on good terms.

May locked eyes with him, her nerves crawling with anxiety. her fingers played with the hemline of her skirt as she prepared herself for her confession. "I talked to someone this morning."

"Okay," he said simply.

The painful attack of a conversation replayed in her mind. _He's not into brunettes. You just met. He's using you. I promise._ She tried to choose a topic that would ease them into the verbal assault.

"They told me I wasn't good enough," she explained.

"For marketing?"

"Yeah."

Drew frowned, his features etched with disappointment. "And you believed that?"

May felt her heart twinge with guilt. Embarrassment. It sounded frivolous when she explained it. Like it was something she should've easily been able to brush off. But, on her way to her interview, her nerves were taut and bound to break. Her reaction was understandable.

"…A little—" May offered.

Drew rolled his eyes as his hand grasped for his cup of coffee. "May, you're definitely better than some of the people in the department already."

She grinned at the compliment, her spirits lifting immediately. "Even you?"

Drew smirked. "Ha. Alright, Maple. Let's tone it down a little."

She laughed, relieved that the feeling of awkwardness was disappearing so rapidly. When Drew spoke again, his voice was soft, his tone concerned.

"Why would you even believe that?" he wondered.

May tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, afraid to look him in the eye. For some reason, she felt shame sitting in her stomach and creeping up her spine. "I don't have a degree."

"So?" Drew asked.

May stared at him. Did she really need to elaborate? "So, I have no idea what I'm talking about."

"It's just a piece of paper," Drew said. "We'll teach you everything you need to know." May still felt uncertainty wedged somewhere in her mind. When she didn't answer, Drew took a different approach. "Don't worry about it. I feel like you're a hands on learner anyway."

May smiled to herself, touched by the fact that she was such an open book to him. He guessed the way she liked her coffee. And at his party, he'd pegged her as the fruity drink type. Now this. "I am."

"Alright," he said with finality. "You'll be fine. And Solidad likes you."

"She does?"

A faint of a smile dashed across Drew's face before disappearing. "Yeah." She saw his mind whirring behind his fleeting gaze as it danced across the table. "We won't let you sink, Maple."

May smiled softly. "You'll be my floaties?"

Drew paused, taking in her words before chuckling and shaking his head. "Yeah, May." There was a slight pause in their conversation before he looked up at her. "How was the interview, by the way?"

She immediately remembered how pleasant Solidad was to talk to. She just really needed a team to help build the company. May felt that she'd done a good job articulating her intent to do that. "It was really nice, actually."

Drew seemed relieved to hear that. "Good. And I'm going to meet with her soon. I bet she's dying to tell me about it."

"Can you tell me what she says?"

"Absolutely not."

"Not even if I…"

"Nope."

May pursed her lips. Well. She couldn't say that she didn't try.

"So, why were you mad at me?" he asked. His voice was soothing. Comforting.

But May couldn't bring herself to tell him.

 _Because your jealous ex that I didn't know about trapped me in an elevator and jabbed accusations at me twenty minutes before one of the biggest interviews of my life._

"Someone told me that you were using me."

Drew immediately frowned. "What?" His eyes left her face, searching vacantly for an answer. He shook his head when he couldn't find one. "That doesn't even make any sense. Using you for what?"

May rubbed her hands together, her nerves peaking. "I don't know—"

Drew squinted at her, his voice low. "May, you believed that?"

May felt her stomach twisting under his gaze. He sounded hurt. Betrayed. What was she supposed to say? "Well. No— I mean—"

"Why would you believe something like that?"

"Because it was Daisy," May said. His eyes widened, and she watched as recognition flowed across his face. He sat back in his chair. "It was Daisy," she repeated quietly.

He stared at May in absolute shock. "She _told_ you that?"

May said nothing.

Drew clenched his jaw, maintaining eye contact with her. His face was tinged with red, whether from anger or from embarrassment, May couldn't tell.

"What else did she say to you?" he asked.

May stared at him and again said nothing.

Drew sighed and leaned forward. He rested his elbows on the table and placed his forehead in his hands.

"It doesn't matter," May said quickly. She'd never seen him so frazzled before, and her immediate desire was to comfort him.

"No, it does," he said without looking up.

"No, it doesn't."

Drew said nothing in response, and May sat still in her chair. She watched, helpless as he sorted through the tangled trains of thought in his mind. Her eyes glanced to his hand pressed against his forehead, and she longed to take it from him and rub ease into his fingers. But she didn't.

Drew looked up suddenly, the redness from his face almost entirely gone. "You're different," he said definitively. "You're different from her."

May searched his eyes, her own widening with surprise. She blinked. What did that mean? "Okay."

"And I'm not using you for anything," he continued. He lowered his hands, his forearms now crossed and laying flat against the table. "I don't want you to ever think that."

"Okay," May said softly.

"I didn't use her for anything, either," he clarified. Drew blinked, his gaze disconnecting from her. "It just didn't work out."

"Why not?" May asked suddenly.

Drew's eyes flashed to her again and paused. He adjusted his position in his chair, lifting himself up briefly to pull the chair closer to the table. He was obviously uncomfortable. "Uh, something just... changed." He looked May in the eyes and averted them at the end of his sentence. "Something came up."

"What do you mean?" She cocked her head to the side.

"I mean…" He tapped his coffee cup and exhaled loudly through his mouth. "I realized that... she wasn't it."

May felt her cheeks heat. Her palms started sweating and she rubbed them subtly against her skirt. She could swear she could hear her pulse in her ears, and she hoped her voice wouldn't waver when she spoke.

"What made you realize that?"

Drew continued staring at his coffee cup. "Uh…" He paused before he broke into a guilty gin and gave a nervous chuckle. He didn't meet her eyes.

Two seconds of saturated silence followed.

"The point is," Drew continued, "you have nothing to worry about. With work or with anything else."

May swallowed, her heart speeding her chest. it felt like fire was licking at her skin. Like she was overheating. Drew's eyes flicked up to meet hers before flicking away just as quickly. Her late reply came just as he was standing.

"Okay."

He glanced at her again, his hands diving into his pockets. "Alright. Well, I think I'm going to head back upstairs before my break is over."

May stood up slowly, grabbing his half empty coffee cup.

"Are you meeting with Solidad?"

"Yep."

"Are you going to talk about me?"

"Yep."

She exhaled. "Well _that_ isn't nerve-wracking."

He immediately laughed at her reaction, his head bowing slightly. It'll be fine. I'll talk you up if I need to."

She smiled, and he grinned back for a bit, before brushing at his nose with the knuckle of his forefinger. May smiled wider. That was such a cute little quirk he had. She vowed to never tell him about it in case he would want to do it less.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she said. "I am."

"Good."

"Dawn helped me to feel better, too."

His eyebrows shot up. "Dawn. Really."

"Yeah."

He stared at the floor to his right, his mind immediately transported to somewhere May could never visit. "Alright. Well uh…" He looked back up at her. "I'll see you at home."

That phrase sounded so nice to her. She let the serenity she felt in her heart show on her face.

"See you at home… Hayden."

May was relieved that he thought that was funny. She listened to the remaining echoes of his laughter as they bounced across the walls of the lobby. Then, she watched him head in the direction of the elevators.

* * *

Drew felt May's gaze on his back for the entirety of his journey to the elevators. He felt stiff, as though he couldn't turn around. But when the elevator came and he stood inside facing the lobby, she was gone.

He put his hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. That was the most awkward he'd ever been in his entire life. His mind reeled through every minute he'd spent with her. What a train wreck. He'd danced around every question and barely looked her in the eye. How had she managed to dismantle everything he knew about himself?

Drew spent the elevator ride secluded in his mind until he reached the fourteenth floor. All that mattered now was the conversation he was going to have with Solidad. He tried to distract himself, as she was really good at reading his emotions.

He thought about the raw brilliance May would be able to bring to the company. He thought about how annoying the leaking faucet was in his kitchen sink. And then he thought about how long May had examined that old high school photo of him that he kept on his desk. He wondered why it was so intriguing to her.

The elevator opened and he stepped out onto the floor.

"Welcome back, Drew."

"Thanks."

He shoved his hand in his pockets and tried to scrub his mind of her entirely. Solidad would be able to pick up on that, too.

And then he remembered what May had said about Dawn. How she'd helped her to feel better. He blinked, staring at his shoes as he made his way to Sol's office. What had she done to cheer her up that Drew couldn't do? Dawn had been wracking up points in his book lately. Up until a few days ago, she was always just the intern in his eyes, although she had advanced from that position a couple of months ago. Maybe she wasn't as dull as he thought she was.

As he rounded the corner to the office, he prepped himself once more for Solidad's analyzing eyes. Nothing was wrong. Nothing happened. Everything's fine.

He knocked a few times before turning the handle and letting himself in. Solidad looked up briefly from her computer screen.

"You look angry," she said bluntly.

Drew sat down in the arm chair that sat facing her desk and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're impossible, you know that?"

She placed her forearms on the desk and leaned forward slightly. "What happened?"

Drew sat back in the chair, his eyes closed. He rubbed his palm into his forehead. "I don't want to talk about it."

"What does it have to do with?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Is it about May?"

Just the sound of her name was enough to toss memories of dresses and giggles and roses and prying blue eyes across the forefront of his mind. She was the embodiment of spring. She really was.

Drew opened his eyes and met Solidad's direct gaze, letting his arm fall against the side of the armchair. She wasn't budging.

"I'm here to talk about her interview," Drew said, "not talk about her."

Solidad stared at him, stone-faced. She examined whatever he had lying behind his eyes. "This is really bothering you."

"Yeah," Drew said, exasperated. "It is."

"I want you to talk about it," she said plainly.

"I don't—" Drew started half-heartedly. "I don't like—"

"I know you don't," Solidad argued. "But I'm going to need you to talk about it."

Drew clenched his jaw. He knew there was no point in debating with her. She was just going to end up getting what she wanted. A part of him hated it. But maybe she was right.

But he was going to get what he wanted first.

"Tell me about her interview and I'll fill you in."

Solidad smirked, and opted to let him have the upper hand.

"Well, she was really great," Solidad started.

Drew nodded his head and crossed his arms. This was true.

"But," she said through an exhale. She folded her hands against the desk. "She doesn't have any experience."

Drew nodded again, his mind shifting to think defensively.

"And she doesn't have any knowledge at all in marketing."

"No, she doesn't," Drew agreed.

Solidad stared at him expectantly, an eyebrow raising as if waiting for him to get to his point. Drew stared back, and the room was silent for a slightly uncomfortable amount of time.

"So…" Drew said. "What are you thinking?"

Solidad bit her lip and leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling. "I don't know." She exhaled, blinking a couple of times. "I had a lot of applicants sitting in this room."

"But how many of them have half the amount of potential she does?" Drew fired calmly.

She looked at him and waited patiently, knowing he wasn't finished speaking.

"How many of them can light a room just by stepping in it?" he asked just as calmly.

A slow smile spread across Solidad's lips, her head lowering slightly.

"She lit this room, didn't she?" Drew questioned.

Sol nodded slowly, as if giving him credit. "She did."

"I know she did," he said. "That's just what she does."

His boss' smile grew wider. "You're so biased."

"I am biased," Drew admitted. "I'm very biased." He leaned back in his chair and pressed the side of his forefinger against his top lip. "But I'm not wrong."

Solidad blinked slowly, challenging his argument. "She doesn't know anything, Drew."

"I'll teach her," he countered. "I'll teach her everything I know."

Solidad lifted her head high. "You know a lot of things. It'll take a lot of time."

"I have a lot of time," Drew said.

Sol paused for a few seconds before grinning, and he felt hope maneuver its way through his defenses.

"Good?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah."

He instantly felt a surge of relief. "Good."

"So," Solidad said definitively, "since you're teaching her everything you know, I want you to lead her project."

Drew froze slightly. Did she mean the idea May came up with the other day? "Wait—"

"I want you to put together a team to spearhead it."

He stared at her in disbelief. Why wouldn't Solidad do it herself? This was arguably the biggest thing to come out of Oakidex Enterprises. This wasn't something to experiment with.

"Solidad—"

"You can take care of it, Drew," she stated. "And I don't want to hear that you can't."

He stared at her, wondering how the conversation had taken such a dynamic twist. This wasn't at all how he thought it would go, but he figured that since it was May's idea, he would be the best person fit for the job.

"Alright," he said.

"I want the members of your team by the end of the week."

He nodded.

"Now what's going on with May?"

Drew chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "We're done talking about her interview? You don't want to tell me anything else?"

"Nope," Solidad said bluntly.

"Well," Drew started reluctantly. He just had to rip off the bandaid. "Daisy took the liberty of introducing herself to May—"

"Oh," Sol hummed quietly.

"—and effectively ruined whatever kind of system we had going—"

"She couldn't have ruined it," Solidad argued.

Drew's eyes flashed to meet Solidad's. "May didn't want to talk to me."

Sol said nothing.

"She could barely even look at me," he continued.

"That's because she was hurt, Drew."

He met his friend's concerned eyes but said nothing.

"She probably just needs some time," she said. "Did you talk to her?"

"Yeah."

"What did she say?"

Drew leaned back in his chair and a ran a hand through his hair. "She said a lot and… she also… didn't say anything."

"Hmmm," Solidad said. A second passed. "She's holding back."

"Yeah."

"Don't let it get to your head," Sol advised. "If May really wanted to let it damage whatever system you have going—" Drew smirked. "—then she wouldn't have talked to you at all."

Drew nodded briefly. "Yeah."

"It'll work itself out," Solidad said. "And if it doesn't, you'll figure it out. You're a smart kid."

He gave a faint chuckle. "Thanks."

"Just make sure you don't your personal life affect the workplace."

His eyes flashed to meet his boss'. "I'm not picking Daisy."

"Drew."

"She isn't on the team." He gripped the sides of the chair with both hands. Just the thought of working with her again sparked his anger.

Solidad gave him a stern look.

"Don't make me regret this," she said firmly.

"You won't," Drew said, standing up to leave. "We'll be fine. I'll handle it." He nodded at her before turning to exit. "I'm a smart kid."

* * *

Drew clutched his satchel as he exited the building. He pushed on the heavy glass door, holding it open briefly for the person following closely behind him. He felt exhausted. That was arguably the most taxing day he'd had in a while. Drew watched his shoes, frowning as he walked. And now he had this project to think about. Normally, he would just work on his own; he was the only person he could trust to not mess anything up. But now he had to depend on other people to essentially change the face of Oak Enterprises as the world knew it. Great.

The signal to walk flashed as soon as he reached the curb. He kept his head down and made the rest of the walk home wishing he had someone to journey with. Someone who would distract him from the snares of his own mind. His pedestrian commute didn't seem half as long when she was with him.

He approached the sidewalk after jaywalking cross the street, spotting Gary's sleek black car, which was parked right in front of the building. He jogged up the steps and started drafting members of his team. He thought of Ash. Although he could be overbearing, the guy didn't know anything other than willpower and loyalty. He wouldn't stop until both he and the project were on top. "The very best," he always said. Drew frowned. At what? What did that even mean.

Nevertheless, Ash was a definite. He was so friendly he could probably convince anyone to invest. He needed someone with that kind of happy-go-lucky determination on his team.

Drew opened the door to his building and scrambled for another possibility as he headed for the staircase. It would have been so convenient for Gary to be on board. He had the kind of superiority complex that would catapult them all to success by association. And even though Ash was great at his job, Gary always seemed to be a step or three ahead of him. Their constant competition would make the sales section of his team self-sustainable. But Gary just _had_ to find a path outside of his grandfather's shadow. He just _had_ to be his own person.

So he was out. And Drew had to find someone to take his place on the team.

He reached the top of the stairs and started the process of jamming his key into the lock before he paused. There was a letter stuck between the door and the door frame.

He gently plucked it from its resting place and saw that the words "Drew Hayden" were written on the back in moderately girly handwriting.

He shook his head, immediately amused, before rapping on the door of his neighbor. She answered unbelievably quickly, her face the epitome of feigned ignorance.

He grinned. "Were you waiting by the door?" he murmured.

"No," she lied.

He washed himself in the blue of her eyes and allowed himself to smile along with her.

"Hi, Drew," she hummed.

"Hi, May," he said back.

Her grin expanded to touch her eyes.

Drew chucked softly in total admiration. "What?"

"What are you waiting for?" she said suddenly, amusement still marking her lips. Her face started tinging with pink. She gestured towards the envelope he held in his hand. "Open it."

Drew looked at it, then waved it slightly. "What's in it?"

"Open it, Drew."

His eyes looked to her face briefly before he leaned on his doorframe and tended to the letter. He opened the flap and saw the top of a photograph peeking from the inside. He took it out and burst into laughter almost instantly.

It was a picture of May. She was wearing suspenders and glasses that were practically bigger than her head. Her jeans were rolled up at the ankles only to reveal thick white socks. Black sneakers covered her feet, and her hair was arranged into two ponytails, which stuck out from the sides of her head.

"That was me in high school," she clarified quietly.

He couldn't seem to take his eyes from the photo. It just kept getting better.

"Did you look like this every day?" he asked, although he knew full well that it was a special occasion.

She scoffed. Drew looked up just in time to see her roll her eyes, which he prided himself in. "No, that was spirit week."

He examined the lockers behind her in the photo. The linoleum floors.

"I love it," he said.

He could practically feel the brightness from May's smile without looking at her.

"It's for you," she said.

He met her eyes. "Really?"

May nodded, then positioned her weight onto one foot and tucked her hair behind her ear.

He thought about questioning why, but decided against it.

"I'm framing it," he said instead.

She pursed her lips to stop from grinning. "Okay."

"I'm putting it on my desk at work."

"Okay, wait—"

"What," Drew asked teasingly, "is this exclusive? You don't want your coworkers to see this?"

May took a sharp breath to retaliate, then froze completely, her eyes growing wide.

Drew frowned. "What?"

She was silent for a few seconds before whispering quietly, "Coworkers?"

Drew stared back, realizing his mistake.

The hallway was filled with tense quietness.

"Did I get the job?" she breathed.

The look of pure anticipation on her face chipped away at his defenses, and he cracked a small grin. This, apparently was enough of an answer for her because she let out a high-pitched squeal, to which one of their neighbors responded, _"Hey! Keep it down!"_

May covered her mouth with her hands and looked at Drew, entirely startled.

Then she seemed to remember the news she'd just received and happiness swept through her features once again.

"I got the job!" she whispered excitedly.

He found himself laughing. "Yeah. You just have to pretend you didn't know when Solidad calls. Or she'd kill me."

May nodded. "I will. I promise."

Something in her eyes shifted slightly. He tried his best to decipher it, but couldn't.

"Thanks, Drew," she whispered.

"No problem," he said back softly.

They stood silently in the hallway, something slightly awkward generating between them. Before it could accumulate any further, Drew reached out an arm towards her.

"Here," he murmured.

And she gladly found her place in his arms. He held her securely, exhaling when she rested her head slightly below his shoulder. He felt the coolness of her hair against his cheek. Her arms wrapped around his back and he just couldn't believe how long it had been.

And then it was over. She was already a step away from him.

She stared at her socks, tucking the same strand of hair behind her ear. May cleared her throat slightly. "Well I'll, um—" her lips stayed pursed after forming the word, and she stared at the walls of the hallway, at the ceiling, as if the building would somehow give her the words to say. "—I'll… see you at work."

She met his eyes and he nodded, unable to say anything at all. Maybe he should check the walls, too.

May smiled lightly, yet sweetly, and extended one foot into the doorway of her apartment. The rest of her body seemed to catch up with it in a graceful, playful way. He could see her fingers peak from behind the door as she closed it softly.

He stood in the empty, quiet hallway for a few seconds, the faint sound of a TV playing somewhere on the second floor reaching his ears. His eyes searched the ground aimlessly as his mind struggled to restart. And then he finished turning the key in his lock and entered his own home.

* * *

May sat in the large meeting room at Oak Enterprises. She moved her fingers, which had been fiddling with a button on her blouse, to rest on her lap, clasped together.

The room was large and would have been empty had it not been for the four people taking up chairs at the long table and the one standing at the front of the room, flipping through the pages of a clipboard. She wrung her hands together and sat quietly next to Dawn, who smelled like some kind of blend of fruity soaps.

On the other side of the table sat Ash who was sitting two seats away from someone May didn't actually know. He looked familiar, and deeply troubled about something, even though it was only ten in the morning. Ash drummed his fingers against the table restlessly, filling the room with a rhythmic, dull galloping sound.

May turned her attention to Drew, who was still leaning over the table, analyzing his notes.

"Stop," said an abrupt, cold voice.

The brunette's eyes flashed to the irritated-looking guy, whose eyes stared at Ash with tense annoyance.

Ash stared back, entirely wary, his facial expression so much softer than the one of the person sitting two seats away from him. Ash looked taken aback, shocked even, by the interaction. Whether if it was from the harshness of his tone or the fact that he'd spoken at all, May couldn't tell. Either way, Ash's mind switched gears, quickly disregarding the moment, and he swiveled in his chair to face Drew. His leg bounced repeatedly, a rapid squeaking noise filling the silence of the room.

May watched the other guy slowly fill with agitation and right when it seemed that he was going to speak, Drew interrupted.

"Alright, guys." Drew's green eyes were still cast down on his papers, his palms laying flat against the table. He looked up, glancing around the room. "You know why you're here today." He slowly stood up straight and crossed his arms. "Solidad put me in charge of the extension in our company product, and I've chosen you all to be apart of the execution."

Drew looked at the men sitting at the table. "Ash. Paul. You're our sales representatives." He turned to look at the women. "May and Dawn. You guys are marketing."

Dawn nodded in determination next to her. May tried to digest the bundle of nerves that had accumulated in her stomach.

"Question," Ash said.

Drew pointed his pen briefly at him in a tapping motion. "Yes."

He leaned back in his chair comfortably. "What is this project? What are we selling?"

Drew glanced at May before looking down and shuffling through his papers. "Well, our very own May Maple suggested something at the marketing department's meeting the other day." He slid a paper to Ash, then one to Paul, before passing more to the two on the other side of the table. "Check it out."

May took the paper in her hands and examined the flyer. The paper was glossy, although the only thing on it was a sketched prototype. Still, May stared at the page in wonderment. There was her whim of an idea, staring back at her from a very official-looking piece of paper.

"Encyclopedia made photographic," Ash read from the page.

She ran her forefinger over the corner of the page before looking back up to face the team in silence.

"This is so cool that it could probably sell itself," Ash said, staring at the page.

"It was May's idea," Dawn reiterated.

Ash immediately turned his head to look at her. His face seemed to be amused and in awe at the same time.

"No way," he whispered.

May felt a small smile reach for her cheeks. "Way," she said shyly.

"Yeah," Drew said. May met his eyes and reveled in how pleased he seemed to be with her. How proud of her he was. "She came up with it about three seconds after understanding what the Oakidex even was."

May stared at the table while her fingers gripped the ends of her skirt.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

She didn't even know anything about marketing! She knew nothing at all about the field she was working in. May felt like she didn't deserve to be in this room. With Drew, of all people, who seemed to be a prodigy. And Ash, who poured himself into every single phone call he made, even though he reportedly worked twice as hard as Paul to meet the same sales quota. And then there was Dawn, who'd traditionally pushed herself to be where she was sitting through study and experience. That made sense. Dawn deserved to be on this team. They all did. But did May?

The sound of Drew's voice brought her back to the present.

"That's about it for today," he said. May met his gaze for a few seconds of concerned prolonged eye contact before Drew tore himself away and acknowledged the rest of the team. "I need you grab a packet on your way out. It has the plan of attack, due dates, and just about everything else." He took the packets from the bottom of his stack of papers and placed them near the edge of the long meeting table. "Check it out and let me know if you have any questions."

Ash stood up and patted Drew on the shoulder on his way out of the meeting. "Thanks for choosing me, man." He grabbed a packet of paper. "It's an honor."

"No problem."

Dawn stood up as well. As did Paul, slightly after her.

"Yeah, thanks, Drew!" she chimed in.

"Don't mention it."

Paul grabbed a packet without a word, as did Dawn.

May made hesitant eye contact as she took the small stack of papers from Drew's hand and gave a faint smile before exiting and heading to her new cubicle.

What had she gotten herself into?

* * *

"So, what are you nervous about?" Drew wondered.

He sat next to her on the couch in the soft lighting of her living room, his elbow planted on the back of her couch. It was some time after 9:30 pm, and her apartment was exceptionally quiet.

May shrugged and tapped a relatively empty jar of peanut butter with the tip of her spoon half-heartedly.

"I don't think I fit in," she said plainly.

She avoided Drew's gaze but imagined him to be frowning.

"Where?" he asked. "With what?"

She stared at her peanut butter, feeling absolutely vulnerable in the silence.

"On the team," she said bravely before spooning a small amount of peanut butter into her mouth and looking him in the eye.

Drew stared at her, his face entirely unchanged.

He sighed, coming back to life. "Why not?" he asked, adjusting his positioning on the couch.

"Because—"

"I thought we talked about this."

May stared at him, trying her best to keep him calm. Why couldn't he understand that this was frustrating?

"I'm worried, Drew," she explained.

"Yeah, I can tell."

May felt her face grow red. Her cheeks must have puffed up because Drew immediately cracked a small smile.

"I'm serious!" she exclaimed.

"I know," Drew said, defending himself as he held back chuckles. "I'm sorry. It's just that—"

"What?" May challenged.

He attempted to stifle the grin on his lips, rubbing at his face with his hand before covering his mouth. "Nothing," he said. "What are you worried about?"

May stared down into her open jar of peanut butter and began carving mountains into its slopes with the tip of her spoon. She refused to meet his gaze. "I was looking through the packet."

"Okay. Well, that's good."

"Yeah," May continued, still sculpting the spread. "And I saw the schedule." She pursed her lips. "It says that next month, there's a pitch meeting." Her eyes timidly looked up to meet his soft gaze. He was resting his head on his fist and watching her speak. "Is that all me?"

"Yep," he said. "That's all you."

May's eyebrows raised as she sighed, and she stared directly into her peanut butter landscape. She concentrated on scooping the perfect amount onto the tip of the spoon before bringing it to rest on her tongue. "Okay. Well, I'm definitely worried about that."

"Okay."

She chewed on her lip, attempted to retrieve any traces of peanut butter.

"And I'm also worried about something else," May admitted.

Drew's expression was the same. His tone of voice was low and comforting. Dreamlike.

"And what's that?"

She took a deep breath. "So, today at the meeting…"

"Mmhmm," Drew hummed, encouraging her to continue.

"…I was really uncomfortable," she finished.

"Yeah, I noticed," Drew said.

"I felt weird," she whispered, looking up at him. He looked absolutely content.

"Really."

"I felt so weird, Drew."

"Why did you feel weird, Maple."

May thought about Ash and Dawn and Paul, and even Drew. And how they all seemed willing and able to do the task set before them.

"Because some of the best people in the _company_ are on the team."

"I know."

May felt the contagion of Drew's subtle admiration slip underneath her skin. She could feel it begin to cloud her thoughts. She rested the jar of peanut butter between her legs and held the spoon firmly in her right hand as it rested on her left knee.

"Do you want to know what I think?" she wondered.

"Of course," he hummed.

She searched his heavily-lidded eyes. "I think you've made a mistake.

His smirk immediately expanded, his eyes partially squinting. He still leaned on his fist, his arm extending from the back of the couch. "Oh?" He seemed amused. "How so?"

"Because I am _also_ on that team."

Drew immediately laughed, briefly filling May's dimly lit apartment with something she wished she could keep forever.

"You don't think you're one of the best people in the department?" Drew asked her.

"Absolutely not."

His eyes glanced over her lips. "I think you are."

"I think you're biased," May said.

Drew shrugged. "I might be."

May sighed. "Drew, I don't know anything about marketing.

"Oh, yeah," Drew recalled quietly.

"Yeah," May said pointedly.

"Wow," he murmured. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know!" May said.

"if only you lived right next door to someone on the team who could teach you everything you need to know."

He let his words sink in before grinning widely.

May felt her fingertips come to life before she realized that his hand had joined hers. He played with her fingers, rubbing his thumbs along her nails, intertwining their fingers and then separating them. He didn't seem to notice he was even doing it.

"Stop worrying," he said softly.

May let herself be numbed simply by the stimulation in her left hand. She couldn't find the breath in her chest to articulate what she wanted to say.

"Okay," she breathed.

The room was silent for a few moments, filled to the ceiling with something so thick that there was no room for words.

"You aren't alone in this," Drew mumbled.

"Okay," May responded.

"We'll be your floaties," he said. May watched Drew grin slowly. "Remember?"

She nodded, feeling his thumb run along her index finger.

"Don't think you aren't good enough for the team," Drew said, "when the team wouldn't exist without you."

He squeezed her hand lightly before brushing his fingers along her palm.

"Okay," she whispered.

Drew watched her face for a few seconds before a smile softened all of his features. "You smell like peanut butter."

May covered her mouth in embarrassment before breaking into a fit of giggles.

"I would've never pegged you as the type to eat it straight out of the jar," Drew said. He watched her laugh, never letting go of her hand. "I was going to bother you about it earlier but it didn't seem like the right time."

May looked him in his playful eyes. "is now the right time?"

"Oh, absolutely," Drew said. "Yes, it is."

May laughed again before the room died down slowly into silence. He still held onto her fingers, memorizing the etches in her palm.

"Hey, uh," Drew began quietly. "I'm still really sorry about before."

May frowned. "About what?"

"About Daisy," he clarified. "She was out of line. I didn't even think—"

"Don't worry about it, Drew," May said, linking her hands with his before releasing her fingers. "She was wrong." May examined the concern behind Drew's eyes, and she realized how wrong she was for believing Daisy's poisonous words. "She was obviously horribly wrong."

* * *

 **Alright! Cool. Everything is pretty much in place for the end of the story now. So we can just keep going on the tracks that have been laid down. I'm ready to just jump right in.**

 **Let me know what you thought of this one. What you loved. What you didn't.**

 **Until next time.**

 **xx**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello, everyone! I've been gone for months and months and months. But I am back with a chapter that I hope will be one of your favorites. I've gotten a few messages that were concerned that I had forgotten this story. So, I hope this was reassuring that this will definitely be finished! Thanks for waiting. The longer the wait, the longer I try to make the chapter.**

 **In response to Just a Fan: Your reviews are consistently lovely. Thank you for that. And I'm sorry I definitely didn't update soon, but the update is here! And I loved the floaties, too. :) And don't worry! I will absolutely keep writing, even when this story is over! Hold on to your guts!**

 **In response to Anonymous Person: Well, I'm really glad that you get it! And I'm happy that it's interesting. Please let me know if there's anything I need to clarify!**

 **In response to Guest: No, I don't think I see Misty physically on the horizon. I'm sorry!**

 **In response to Dada-dee-dum: I hold this review very near and dear to my heart. I read it three trillion times in one day, only because I couldn't believe what you'd written. Thank you for being so truthful and honest. I agree with you, that my sentence structure seems to take the same pattern a lot of the time, but I'm so incredibly blown away that everything else really affected you! Your appreciation of the description I use really warmed my heart. And I'm so touched that you were as happy with reading the reviews as I am! Wow. I'm rereading your review right now and I'm super embarrassed to comment on everything you said lol. It's stupid, I know, but wow. This is a gold star review. I hope you can still read this and feel the same way at the end. Your words really motivated me to just push through writer's block and indecisions. Thank you for the seriousness of your review. It's really rare.**

 **In response to Guest: Do not fret! Here is the update! You can read it right now! (Sorry it took so long!)**

 **And thank you to all of the people who've followed and favorited this. I appreciate all of you!**

 **And please inform me of any mistakes. I was a bit hasty in the editing this time to upload it as soon as it was finished.**

 **Well, here we are. Chapter 15.**

* * *

"Okay, so next you whisk in two tablespoons of sugar."

"Okay," May replied, opening a bag of sugar and scooping out a tablespoon of it before tossing it into a large bowl.

Drew was across the kitchen, leaning over the bar and reading a recipe off of a sheet of paper. After work, they'd decided that they were hungry but didn't want to spend money at Jenny's. It was then that Drew recalled a certain food that May had utterly failed in making once before. Pancakes.

This time, however, she would redeem herself.

"What's next?" May wondered.

Drew hummed as he used his finger to scan the page and find his place in the recipe. "Two and a half teaspoons of baking powder."

"Alright," she said.

She reached for the orange cardboard box and measured out the required amount, dumping the white substance into the bowl and combining it with flour and sugar.

"What's after that?" she questioned.

"Half a teaspoon of salt," Drew said, looking up from the paper and leaning on the counter with his forearms.

"Okay."

She reached for the salt in the cabinet above her head when she was interrupted by his voice.

"May."

She turned around quickly, her hair whipping across her shoulders.

"Yeah?"

He was staring at something on the counter. She followed his line of vision. It was the orange box.

"What's that?" he asked.

She tapped the top of the box. "This?"

"Yeah."

"Baking powder."

His eyes flashed up to meet hers, a smirk threatening to appear on his face. There was a knowing gleam in his eye.

"What?" May wondered.

And then came the smirk. "That's baking soda."

May covered her mouth with her hands, immediately panicking as she stared at the bowl of white powders.

"Maybe it'll be okay," Drew said, attempting to extinguish her dismay. "It was only a few teaspoons."

May turned her head slowly to face Drew, suddenly feeling absolutely guilty. She felt her face grow warm, her hands still covering her mouth.

Drew raised an eyebrow, skeptic of her reaction to his reassurance. "It _was_ a few teaspoons, right?"

May said nothing, entirely frozen.

Drew grinned knowingly. "You used the tablespoon, didn't you."

She nodded, an embarrassed smile sneaking over her lips and touching her eyes.

Drew burst into a fit of breathy chuckles, his head hanging as he laughed. Then, he looked back up at her, amusement still playing on his features. "Do you just want to order take out?"

"Yes, please."

After dumping the combination of dry ingredients into the trash, May watched Drew order Chinese. She tried to stop her cheeks from burning to no avail. He made eye contact with her while still on the phone, amused by her reddening.

He glanced down at the counter, trying to suffocate a laugh that was beginning to surface. "Yeah," he said into his cell phone. "17 4th Street. Apartment 212."

He spun the paper Chinese menu with his forefinger as he listened to the person on the other line.

"Cool," Drew said. "And how long would that be?" His gaze danced briefly across the countertop. "Alright, thanks."

He hung up, still staring at the counter. He bit his lip to stifle a grin. May watched him, her guard raised entirely, as she leaned against the stove. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, and she stood perfectly still.

Drew stood up slowly and made his way over to her without looking at her. He walked around the kitchen island, watching the countertops instead of May's face before standing right before her, his hands fiddling with the bag of flour that was still on the counter.

May stood firmly in a defensive position.

"You look like you're trying not to laugh," she told him.

A smile immediately lit up his face, and he exhaled a brief chuckle. He tilted the bag of flour onto the counter, allowing some of it to spill.

"I mean, it's just sad, really," he said.

May said nothing. She watched him intently though his attention was directed away from her. She could see the sharp line of his jaw as he faced the counter.

"Some people just… they just can't make pancakes." He dipped his fingers in the pile of flour. "And that's just the kind of world we live in."

"I can make pancakes," May argued.

Drew furrowed his eyebrows and shrugged. "Really? Because your track record is terrible."

Again, May said nothing. She could feel embarrassment and anger brimming on the edge of her lips. Drew turned to face her, his stupid smirk sitting smugly on his face.

"Don't feel bad," he said. "It's not like you can help it."

And he dabbed at her nose with his floury fingers.

May felt something devious spark in her mind. So that was his game. She maintained heated eye contact while pinching at the poured flour on the counter and smeared it slowly over his cheeks. He let it happen, his smirk growing wider.

When she was finished, she clapped her hands together to dust them off, her stare an absolute challenge.

Drew's gaze bounced dangerously between her eyes before he turned his attention to the bag of flour and dumped more of it onto the counter. May watched uneasily as he flattened both of his palms into the white powder before bringing his hands to dangle at his sides.

"Drew," May said in warning.

He didn't move, the smirk still sitting on his face. May stood still for a few seconds before turning around and bolting in the opposite direction. She didn't get very far before she felt his floury hands wrap around her and pull her close, effectively preventing her from escaping.

"Drew!" she exclaimed, a fit of laughter getting the better of her as he swung her around. His head rested right in the crook of her shoulder, and she could feel his smile against her neck.

She attempted to fight her way back to the counter, but he held her tightly. May reached for the half-empty bag of flour and managed to grab the top with her fingertips, successfully pulling it over the edge and onto the floor. She dove for it, dragging him down with her and grabbing the bag of flour. Twisting around in his arms, she managed to free herself just long enough to pour some of the contents directly onto his head.

Drew immediately ruffled his hair in her direction, crouching over her and cornering her against the cabinets. May squealed, shielding her eyes with her arm and dropping the bag entirely.

May opened her eyes and examined her arms. "It's all over me!" she exclaimed.

" _You_?" Drew countered. "It's all over _me_!"

He sat on the floor next to her, and May scrambled to catch her breath. She noticed the flour trailing down the cabinets, pooling onto the floor.

She poked an accusatory finger at him and grinned. "This is all you."

He smiled, his eyes focused on her lips. "Me?"

"Yes," May said, jabbing her finger at him again for emphasis. "This is all you. All of this is you."

Drew's hair was tinged with white powder. Flour was dusted over his eyebrows, his shoulders. May could only imagine what she looked like. His handprints _had_ to be all over her.

"You're the one that can't make pancakes," he said, as if this were the logical outcome to her problem.

May watched him quietly for a few seconds before reaching up slowly and dabbing at the tip of his nose with her forefinger. She let her thumb brush away some of the flour from his cheeks before pulling back her hand entirely.

Drew stared at her briefly before his gaze slid down to her hand, which rested on her thigh. He was sitting beside her, with one leg stretched out and one raised. Without thinking, May extended her legs so that they rested in the empty space between his. A full yet comfortable silence lingered between them. Drew was one of the only people May could be quiet with for a seemingly endless period of time without the nagging need to break the silence with words. It was something she cherished. She loved his simplicity.

He continued to stare at her hand, and she wondered what he could have possibly been thinking about for so he reached down slowly and made contact with her skin. He lightly ran his fingertips across the grooves of her slender fingers before his own fingers funneled their way through hers.

Drew seemed to love doing this lately. His hands must have been craving the sensation of her skin. The underbellies of her fingers.

"Guess what I found at work today," May murmured.

Drew's eyes met hers. There was something warm and playful behind them. "What?"

"Another rose," May said.

"On your desk?"

"Yeah."

"Wow," Drew said. "That's, what, the fifth one this month?" He shook his head, his fingers still tangled with hers. "This is getting out of hand." He paused in order to wait for her response. When she said nothing, he furrowed his eyebrows. "Why are you looking at me like that." He blinked, knowing the answer. "You think I did it."

"Yes," May said blatantly.

He grinned and shook his head again. "May, we've been through this."

"Yeah, but—"

"Why?" he asked. "Why do you think it's me?"

She felt the sensation of his fingers running through hers and remembered the rose he'd given her almost a month ago. "Because you're the obvious choice."

"Which means, according to every mystery, that it isn't me," he replied.

May pursed her lips together. He had a point.

"It _has_ to be you," she argued when she couldn't beat his sound logic.

"Why does it _have_ to be me?"

Drew pulled back his hand, skeptical. She tried not to notice how empty and cold her hands were without his.

"Because no one else knows I like roses, Drew," May reasoned.

Drew rested his head back against the cabinet behind him, closing his eyes. "Yeah, but roses are a typical gift flower. People give them to other people roses all of the time."

"Who else could it be?" May wondered, allowing her recently lonely hand to couple with his once again. He immediately received her, his eyes still closed, and their fingers resumed their dance.

Drew turned his head to face her and opened his eyes slightly, leaving them heavily lidded. "It could be anyone. What about Kenny? He's suspicious."

May giggled, causing a slow smile to develop on her neighbor's face.

"Why is Kenny suspicious?" she wondered.

"I don't know, honestly," Drew mumbled with a guilty grin.

With his head facing her, leaning back against the cabinet, she noticed how exposed his cheek was. She longed to cover the empty space with her palm and let the heat of his skin warm her fingers.

"Kenny has a thing for Dawn, you know," May said secretly.

Drew raised an eyebrow. "Really."

"Yeah," she murmured. "You didn't know?"

He shook his head.

"it's so obvious, Drew."

His smile grew wider but he said nothing in response. A few seconds passed before he spoke.

"Are you ready for tomorrow?"

May sighed immediately, her heart sinking.

"I'm so nervous," she admitted quietly, watching their fingers tango.

"You'll be great," Drew stated.

She said nothing, her eyebrows furrowed. After a few seconds of silence, she looked up to meet Drew's wary eyes.

A smile spread across her cheeks before she could stop it. "Can I run my pitch by you one more time?"

He burst into laughter. "May, I've seen it twenty times."

"So?" she reasoned.

"And it was perfect twenty times," he insisted, still smiling.

May said nothing in response, so he corrected himself.

"Okay, it was perfect nineteen times," he admitted. "You sneezed on the seventh one."

May giggled, letting her head hang as her body shook with laughter.

"Just don't sneeze tomorrow and you'll be fine."

May looked up to meet his soft green eyes and let him numb her worries with a stroke of his thumb.

"Thanks," May whispered to him.

The two simmered in the silence that shortly followed. She watched him close his eyes before she pinched at a small mound of flour on the floor and smeared it across his nose.

He remained still, a grin immediately appearing on his face. His eyes opened slightly.

"Did you not… learn anything?" he asked her, breathy chuckles interrupting him in the middle of his sentence.

"No," she whispered, chuckling along with him.

And before she knew it, her other hand joined in, causing Drew's arm to relax completely. She felt his gaze intensify.

May turned over Drew's right hand in her palm, slowly tracing his veins from his wrist to his forearm with the breath of her fingertips. She became aware of his steady breathing as she smoothed out the slight curvature of his fingers with her own. May marveled at the size of his hands. How they were slightly larger than hers. Slightly rougher.

She stretched out her palm against his, although his was upside down. May didn't want to look at him. Her cheeks were practically burning from his gaze.

But she did anyway. He was watching her face, her lips, her cheeks, her chin, breathing slowly as she followed the stitches in his hand. His eyes seemed especially distant, his face clouded by the depths of his thoughts.

Then she stopped moving her fingers, wondering if he could decipher what she'd woven into his skin.

The silence in the apartment was almost audible. May leaned her head against the cabinets, too, just allowing herself to coexist with him. She felt the slight sensation of Drew's thumb moving against the backs of her fingers.

Longing to see the color in his eyes, May waited patiently for him to meet her gaze, but he wouldn't. His eyes were downcast. At nothing in particular.

She analyzed his face. It felt like he had something to say, but he was saying nothing.

"What?" May whispered to him.

He blinked, still gaining comfort from her hands.

His voice was a distracted whisper. "Um—"

Three loud knocks from the front door resounded through the apartment. May jumped slightly, startled from the sudden change in the atmosphere. She made brief eye contact with Drew and then slowly began the dreaded process of detangling herself from him.

After withdrawing her legs and disconnecting their hands, May stood up and approached the front door. On the other side of it stood a man carrying a large, brown paper bag, which she assumed held their dinner.

"Wow, I can't wait," she said to be friendly, taking the pen to sign the receipt.

The man said nothing in reply, choosing to smile instead. She scribbled her name on the paper slip for fear that the awkward silence would be a bit too long.

"There you go!" she sang, handing back the pen in exchange for the bag.

The man nodded cheerfully before leaving.

May closed the door and turned around, approaching the counter at which Drew was standing and plopped the bag in front of him. He immediately began opening it, ripping through the staple at the top.

"What were you going to say?" May wondered.

Drew removed a small container of what May assumed to be rice and popped it open. He shrugged.

"Nothing, really," he said.

May frown and watched him use chopsticks to guide a cluster of fried rice into his mouth.

He lifted his eyebrows as he made eye contact with her.

"What?" he asked, his words muffled.

May broke their stare and instead gave her attention to breaking her own pair of chopsticks.

"Nothing," she said, opening her own little box of rice.

"Hmmm…" Drew hummed.

May looked up at him through her eyelashes. he was smirking, and she felt a small smile leak onto her lips. She shoveled some rice into her mouth to hide it.

"Oh no," he said teasingly.

"What?" she baited.

"It sounds like we're playing the nothing game."

She shifted her weight onto her left foot. "Are we?"

"Absolutely."

The brunette pursed her lips together. "Hmmm…"

The smile on Drew's face spread. "Hmmm…"

She giggled, covering her mouth with her wrist. "Well… let's stop playing," she said pointedly.

He chuckled. "Okay," he agreed, leaning against the counter. His gaze bounced between her eyes. "I'll tell you what I was thinking about. But I want to see your pitch again first."

She squinted her eyes at him. Was he serious? He wanted to see it a twenty-first time?

"Really?" she verified.

"Yeah," he said softly. "Just one more time."

* * *

"This is the world we live in," May said boldly. She gestured to her visual presentation of various images that exemplified the technological age of modern life. Coding. Numbers.

"A world governed by technology. A world," she proposed, "governed by mathematics in a veil of beauty."

She waited for two and a half seconds, as Drew suggested, in order for her words to settle in the minds of the executives and potential investors gathered in the conference room. Once she began speaking again, she glimpsed Drew modding in approval. She'd waited for the perfect amount of time.

"To the public eye," she continued, "the appeal of a product lies in its convenience. And in its convenience lies a product's beauty." her slideshow presented a number of examples of how moderately clunky pieces of technology have evolved over the years to be pocket-sized, palm-sized. "The technological ear has one goal and one goal only." She paused. "Simplicity. And at Oakidex, our goal is identical."

She made ye contact with numerous men and women who chewed on their pens, leaned back in their chairs expectantly, drummed their fingers against the table.

"With our new development, our mission is to further simplify the accessibility of knowledge." May pointed to the various renderings of the potential Oakidex system, digitally designed by Drew. "Information will truly be at the tips of your fingers in an instant. Or at the very least, on the other side of your camera lens."

Mumblings suddenly filled the small space, but the brunette tried to not let this distract her from driving her point home.

"With this, I encourage you to embrace the inevitable changes to modern technology, and to watch as the public follows their instincts—" Slight pause. "—to live simply." She smiled and gave a curt nod. "Thank you."

The room erupted into applause, and May walked coolly to the exit, leaving the remote to control her presentation on a podium.

She left the room, resisting the urge to squeal as she walked briskly to Dawn's cubicle.

Her blue-haired friend looked up from her work, beaming.

"How was it?" Dawn practically yelled, already knowing the answer.

And then May took a deep breath before squealing, which caused an immediate and identical response in Dawn.

"It was great!" she whispered, stooping down slightly to be eye-level with Dawn's chair height.

"What's going on over here?" came Ash's friendly voice.

May stood back up and faced him, grinning. "It was great!" she said again.

Ash's face lit up completely. "That's great!" he exclaimed, raising his hand for a high five, which May excitedly provided him with.

"Tell us about it," Dawn requested, her hands pressed against her knees.

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Did you remember to use the slogan?"

May nodded. "Yep!" She popped the 'p' in the word and made a pushpin motion with her fingers. "Tacked right on the end."

Suddenly, there was the obvious sound of someone clearing their throat intentionally. May looked towards the source of the noise and saw Daisy Waterflower sitting at her desk, her back facing Dawn's cubicle.

The trio paused and exchanged glances. Dawn rolled her eyes.

"I'll just… tell you later," May said. "Same time?"

"Same place," Ash finished.

Ash and May waved goodbye to Dawn before heading in the direction of May's personal cubicle.

"I feel so bad for her," Ash whispered as they passed by multiple stations of people, filled with conversations and ringing telephones.

"Daisy?" May asked.

"No, Dawn," Ash said. "For having to put up with her."

May smiled and turned to look at her friend before he continued speaking.

"You know, she wasn't always like that." He paused for a second, contemplating something and then shaking his head. "I don't know what went wrong."

Maya chewed her lip and shrugged, slowing as they approached her little desk. Worrying about Daisy was no longer a concern of hers.

She felt Ash's hand pat her on the back.

"Well, I'll see you later, May," he said with his signature smile.

"Okay, Ash," she said cheerily, sitting down in her swivel chair.

May turned toward her desk and sighed contentedly. What a day. She started her morning at Jenny's with Drew. He ordered coffee. Black. She ordered tea. Sweetened and milky. Then, they walked to the office. And she tried to suppress the nausea that accompanied her restless nerves.

You'll be great, he told her. I'll be right there.

She smiled to herself and reached out to adjust the pen holder on her desk. May grabbed a pen from it and doodled a heart on her pad of sticky notes. She contemplated putting it somewhere in particular before crumpling it up and tossing it in her tiny trash can.

She glanced over at Drew's empty desk. He must still be in the conference room. Or meeting with Solidad.

May tapped the space bar on her keyboard to awaken her computer before noticing something deep red near the bottom of her monitor. She froze briefly as she stared at it before reaching out to touch it. Her fingers registered something smooth. Fragile.

Gently, she pulled on the velvet to reveal a rose hidden behind her computer monitor. Her heart stopped in her chest, the feeling of familiarity overwhelming her. She bit her bottom lip to stile the massive grin that broke like daylight across her cheeks.

The rose was attached to a note, which she opened carefully.

 _Great job, Maple_.

May couldn't stop the giggle from escaping her lips, though she covered them with her fingers.

She rolled her chair out from the cubicle, peeking over the side of the wall. She sat on the aisle and could see directly into the conference room. Her eyes found Drew immediately, due to the color of his hair. His eyes were drawn to the movement in her periphery and locked onto her almost as soon as she spotted him. He was in the middle of speaking, but he paused briefly before grinning uncontrollably and resuming his focus to the corporate representative he was speaking to.

She watched him attempt to listen to the prominent-looking woman, nodding his head. But May could tell, even from her distance, that he was focused on her instead.

She rolled back into the cubicle, grinning wildly at the fact that Drew had, at some point, delivered a rose to her desk. And that he'd most likely done it five other times this month, too.

* * *

"Really?" May wondered, touching the soft petals of the rose she'd gotten earlier.

"Yes," Dawn and Ash said in unison.

The three of them sat around the counter of Delia's flower shop as Ash closed the store for the night. He swept behind the counter while Dawn sat on top of it, and May leaned on it with her elbows.

"I don't know…" May trailed.

"May," Dawn said, "what do you not know?"

May looked up at her blue-haired friend and examined her eyes.

"Everyone knows," Dawn said quietly, eyebrows raised.

May looked at Ash, who'd stopped sweeping to listen. He raised his eyebrows, too.

"No," May said. She brought her right hand up to her forehead. "I can't."

"Why not?" Dawn questioned forcefully.

"Because," May explained exasperatedly. She looked Dawn in the eyes again. "If I did, I wouldn't be able to handle—" She paused to gather the feelings she'd tucked away. "—him just going. And leaving."

"That's what's stopping you?" Dawn wondered. "Long distance? May, he's—"

"It's hard to explain," May said, placing her head in her hands. She felt her cheeks burn against her palms. "This is embarrassing."

"Look, all I know," Dawn started, "is that you have been the talk of this office for a solid month, young lady." May cracked a smile. "And do you know what I do every morning when I wake up?"

May didn't reply, still holding her head in her hands. Maybe if she tried hard enough, she could disappear.

"What?" Ash asked when May wouldn't.

"I think, 'Maybe today's the day that May Maple's dreams come true.'"

"Dawn, please," May groaned.

"I do that, too," Ash added.

The brunette found herself laughing at the image of Ash doing this first thing in the morning.

"This is ridiculous," May said, looking her friends in the eyes. "Are you interventioning me right now? Is that what this is?"

"He's given you like fifteen roses," Dawn pointed out.

"It was only six," the brunette corrected immediately. "And it wasn't him."

"Who was it, then?" Dawn challenged, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Someone else."

"It was Drew."

"You can't prove it," May argued stubbornly.

Dawn stared her down, her gaze fiery. A small smirk appeared on her lips, and May's confidence rattled.

"Yes, we can," Ash stated.

May looked at him slowly, her eyes wary. Guarded. He held her gaze before looking down to his right. May followed his line of sight and spotted a computer.

"Don't prove it," May whispered. She looked at both of her friends carefully, her voice still soft. "Don't."

Dawn frowned. "What are you so afraid of?"

"May, long distance isn't that bad," Ash chimed in reassuringly. "I see Misty every couple of months. We video chat all of the time."

May stared at the rose on the counter, letting this information brew in her stomach. Images of all the time they'd spent together practicing her pitch flashed across her memory. Every soap bubble fight. All of the hours spent chatting on their balconies. Each little motion his fingers underwent as they scaled the canyons of her hands. Sometimes, even the thin wall that stood between their apartments was too much. She couldn't bear to imagine him being several hours away. What if they didn't work that way? What if they only worked together?

"I can't," May said.

She let the silence of the dimly lit flower shop settle in her ears.

"I can't think about him not being here."

Speaking those words aloud left her feeling awfully exposed. It felt as though her heart was on the table, ready to be punctured.

"You can't," Dawn said.

"No."

"Present tense," Dawn clarified.

May said nothing.

"You cannot. Right now."

May looked her in the eyes, wondering what Dawn was going to say.

"Do you know what that means?"

May pursed her lips, her eyebrows knit together.

"It means that if he left," Dawn elaborated. "Tomorrow. It would still hurt you even though you're not technically together." She sympathetically searched the brunette's eyes, speaking softly. "You didn't save yourself from anything."

May closed her eyes. "I tried."

"I know," said Dawn's quieted voice. "But I think it's time to stop trying."

* * *

Drew sat at a small table in the office's break room with his team for the lunch break. Dawn was eating some kind of prepared meal containing brussels sprouts out of a tupperware container. Ash was on his second sandwich from a ziploc bag. And Paul, who had taken a lot of convincing to even sit at the table, munched scornfully on a bag of chips. Ah, teammates.

"But Paul—" Ash started, his mouth full of sandwich.

"No," Paul answered sternly between crunches.

"But Paul," Dawn argued.

"No," he said again.

"Why not?" Dawn challenged. "This is a huge deal."

"It is a pretty big deal, Paul," Drew chimed in before taking a sip of his coffee.

"I agreed to be on this team," Paul said. His eyes were stony, and his elbow rested on the table, his wrist hanging lazily as he chewed. "I didn't agree to anything else."

"It's a _party_ ," Dawn said, "to celebrate something we've accomplished as a _team_." She firmly laid her hand that held her fork against the table. "We're going down in the history of Oakidex and you don't want to be there to commemorate it?"

"No."

"Unbelievable."

Drew had gotten the news that their project was officially funded and underway that morning. He'd just shared it with the others a few hours ago. Their reactions were priceless, and uncomfortably loud, considering they were all in the office at the time.

He looked over at the brunette who seemed to still be in shock. The hum of Dawn's voice continued, but he ignored it. May was staring at the table, chewing her panini unusually slowly. He pressed softly against her foot and watched her face reanimate. Her wide eyes locked onto him immediately.

He raised his eyebrow slightly. "You okay over there?" he said under his breath.

She stared for a few seconds, her face frozen. "Yes," she managed to say.

"Right, May?" came Dawn's voice.

May looked at the blunette suddenly, clearly missing everything she'd said. The look of frozen shock was still plastered on her face.

"Yes," she answered.

"See?" Dawn argued, looking pointedly at Paul.

"She wasn't even listening," Paul said.

"That just means she instinctively _knows_ what's considered to be right and what's definitely wrong in this situation."

Paul's face was unamused. He turned and made eye contact with Drew, clearly expressing his disbelief.

Drew almost choked on his coffee from laughter. He didn't expect to be involved so suddenly.

"I think you should go, man," Drew said, recovering smoothly. "It won't hurt."

Paul visibly exhaled before tossing another chip in his mouth. He said nothing.

"Where is it going to be, Ash?" Drew wondered.

"My place," Ash said proudly. His sandwich had long been finished, and he picked up his open water bottle to take a sip.

"Don't you live with your mom?" Paul muttered.

Ash paused and looked at Paul, the water bottle still at his lips. He lowered it slowly.

"No," he said. "I don't."

There were a few seconds of silence before Ash spoke again.

"You know, maybe Paul _shouldn't_ come."

"Paul's going," Drew said definitively. "We're all going." He looked at Ash, who seemed to be contemplating something. "Ash, you're going, too."

Ash noticeably frowned and was about to interject before Drew extinguished his rebuttal.

"You live there. You have to be there."

Drew took a sip of his coffee and analyzed his team. Dawn absent-mindedly maneuvered her fork around her tupperware container, while Ash tapped his water bottle cap against the table. Paul crumpled up his bag of chips and dropped it on the table, and who knew what planet May's mind had escaped to. How would they ever move further with this project if they could't get along?

"We're all going," he reiterated. "And we're all going to have fun. As a team." He picked up his coffee cup. "Right, May?"

He felt her snap back to reality, just as confused as before.

"Yes," she said.

A few seconds lapsed before Ash broke the silence.

"She wasn't even listening," he mumbled.

* * *

May had gone to the party with Dawn. They'd gotten ready together, and Dawn somehow had a knack of applying makeup without having it look like there was any makeup applied. She'd used neutral colors on May's face and simply enhanced her features. It was a gift.

While May sincerely enjoyed her company, spending this much time with Dawn really caused her to miss Leaf. The brunette had to physically stop herself from doing their patented pre-party check before walking into Ash's apartment.

The space somehow seemed smaller than Drew's, but it was no doubt comfortable. The apartment opened up to the living room, which had a few couches and a large open window by the right wall, welcoming the cool night air. The left wall separated the living room from the kitchen, and the light from the open doorway of the kitchen spilled onto the carpet. The place was relatively crowded. A large number of people from their office showed up, most of whom May did not know very well. To them, she was "Idea Girl" or "The Girl Who Had That Idea That One Time." It made her, to say the least, uncomfortable.

"Dawn," May said, as they made their way deeper into the apartment.

"What?" her friend answered.

"I don't know any of these people."

"Well, that's because you stick to Drew," she replied. "And me. And Ash. Maybe this will help you branch out."

The brunette looked around the darkened room. "I don't want to branch out. I like… my branches."

"Hey, guys!" Ash greeted, walking over to them. "You made it!"

"We had to," Dawn said with a smile.

"Wanna drown your sorrows?" he asked.

"Yes," Dawn answered immediately.

Ash led them to the kitchen, and on his countertop were an assortment of various bottles of alcohol.

May's eyes instantly spotted Drew, who was standing in the far corner of the kitchen, holding a drink and talking to Paul. He nodded his head, and then spotted her, too. His gaze softened, and May felt a tug to immediately approach him, but she fought it.

The sound of a cup being placed against the counter took May's attention and she was suddenly looking at Dawn. She was staring at May, amused.

"You two are unreal," she said.

"What?" May argued. "What are you talking about?"

Dawn shook her head and smiled. "You looked like your whole world stopped."

The brunette's heart stuttered in her chest, and she tried to stop a blush from rising in her cheeks.

"It's cute," Dawn said grinning sweetly, pouring a drink of her own. "It's like a movie."

May found herself unable to say anything at all, so she watched Dawn mix her drink instead.

"Go say hi," Dawn said, bringing her cup to her lips. "I'll be in the living room."

Suddenly, May felt irrationally nervous. She felt her palms start to sweat, and her heart thudded erratically in her chest. She grabbed her cup and feigned confidence as she walked over to where Drew stood with Paul.

Drew's green eyes landed on her once again as she approached and Paul turned to acknowledge her, too.

"Hi," she said to him, before focusing entirely on her neighbor.

Drew's lips were curved into a small smile, his eyes slightly droopy.

May locked eyes with him briefly, before reaching for his drink. He let her have it, his smile widening as she gave him her drink instead.

Drew was quiet for a few moments before he chuckled and shook his head slightly. "Why," he said.

May looked up at him through her eyelashes. "It's tradition." She searched his eyes. "Isn't it?"

Remembrance spread across his features and she left him pointedly, knowing he wanted to say more. She left through the doorway Drew was standing by, trying to find Dawn.

She paused briefly, surveying the room before spotting her against the wall of the living room, talking to Kenny. May watched as her friend smiled politely at her conversational partner before making meaningful eye contact with her. The message behind Dawn's eyes was very clear: _Save me_.

Just as May stepped in Dawn's direction, someone appeared in her path, causing her to stop abruptly to prevent a collision.

"Oh," May said in surprise. She looked up to see who it was, but she didn't recognize him. She attempted to get around him. "Excuse me—"

"You're that girl, right?" he asked.

The brunette paused, analyzing the situation. He'd stopped her intentionally.

 _Here we go_. May took a step back; he was a bit too far in her comfort zone.

"That girl who made all this happen," he continued.

May smiled, embarrassed. "Yeah…" she trailed. "That's me."

The guy smiled charmingly. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you." He held out his hand. "I'm Brendan."

May nodded. "It's nice to meet you," she said sweetly.

Her fingertips tapped rapidly against the cup in her hand as she waited for him to say something.

"So, how do you like Oakidex?" he asked her.

"Um," May stalled, her lips pursed as she looked past him to check on Dawn's situation. She needed to be over there already. "It's nice. I really like it. I really like the people."

Brendan nodded. "Yeah, me, too."

May stood still, anticipation rattling her bones. They were quiet, although the sounds of the party buzzed around them. Brendan took a sip of his drink, while May stared at her shoes, wishing this moment would be over.

"Hey, maybe we can, uh," Brendan started, "get lunch sometime—"

"Hey, man," came Ash's familiar voice.

May used the opportunity to immediately escape and rescue Dawn. She didn't answer his question, and she didn't say goodbye. In a few strides, she'd made it to the location of her friend and grabbed her arm.

"Hey, Dawn," she said. "I need you to be somewhere else for something important."

And then she dragged her away.

"Thanks," Dawn said, as May led her through the empty spaces between clusters of people.

May turned around suddenly to face her friend.

"I hate it, Dawn," she said. "I hate it."

Dawn's face looked puzzled. "Hate what?"

"Branching out." The brunette shook her head in shocked realization. "I can't do it."

Dawn giggled. "Yes, you can!" She brought her drink to her lips and rolled her eyes. "You're so dramatic."

"That's a weird way of pronouncing 'traumatized'," May said.

Dawn burst into cute, bouncy laughter and May followed suit. What would she do without Dawn?

May drank from Drew's cup and discovered it to be gin-based. Typical.

A space on the couch by the window opened up, and the two girls gladly took it. The floor lamp in their corner of the room provided a cozy atmosphere, which beautifully complemented the warmth May acquired from the alcohol. She chatted with Dawn for the majority of the time, complimenting various shoes and discussed potential future steps they could take to further market the project.

"Okay, okay," Dawn said, her hand waving rapidly back and forth as if to clear the air. Her index finger rested on her upper lip as she thought. "How did you meet Drew."

May smiled slowly. She didn't bother to protest telling the story. "We live next to each other."

"So you didn't know him before that?" May denied it and Dawn shook her head in disbelief. "That's so unreal." She bit her finger lightly as she thought of a question to ask. "How did you first meet him."

May looked away from Dawn's face, searching for the memory in her mind. "Um… I was leaving. And he was coming home. And we met in the hallway."

"What happened?"

May's gaze grazed the couch cushions between them as she thought. "Um… I don't know. I just remember his eyes." Dawn waited patiently for May to recall more information. "And then… I left my keys in the door." She chuckled lightly. "And he told me I left my keys in the door."

Dawn's smile was so wide that it touched her eyes. She rested her chin happily in her hand and listened as May recounted the various things that occurred during that first week: the towel (which Dawn gasped at), the burned pancakes, the chats on the balcony, the chats through the wall.

"Wow," Dawn said softly. "I didn't know. I didn't know that side of Drew even existed."

May tucked her hair behind her ear and avoided her eyes. "Yeah."

"Hey," came Drew's voice.

The two girls looked up to see him towering over the couch.

"May, I'll see you later," Dawn said immediately, moving from her comfortable position. "Is Paul still in the kitchen?"

Drew nodded. And watched as Dawn made her way across the room. Then he sat down next to May, grinning.

"Hey, Maple," he said.

"Hi," she greeted excitedly. She immediately felt as if something clicked into place. Like this was what she was waiting for.

"Still drinking those fruity drinks, I see," he said.

May giggled, completely euphoric from his company.

"What were you and Dawn talking about?" Drew wondered.

"Um…" May trailed. She popped her lips gently and looked him in the eye. "Business."

"I've never seen Dawn get that excited about business," Drew said skeptically.

She shrugged. "Yeah, well."

Drew's smile spread across his face, and all May could think about was how familiar he was to her. She thought about the warmth she felt in her bones when she was this close to him.

"What were you and Paul talking about?" she asked him.

He shrugged, smirking. "Business."

"Oh," May said, biting back a smile.

Drew nodded rhythmically without breaking eye contact, amused.

May lifted her drink to her lips playfully before lowering it, and Drew's eyes followed. She moved to sit closer to him and memorized the shape of his eyes.

"Congratulations," Drew murmured.

"For what?" she whispered back.

"For making it."

May searched his eyes. "Thanks," she breathed.

He said nothing in return, watching her face instead.

Minutes passed by, and the room had quieted to a lull, possible because of the lessening of people. The lighting was warm, and May was entirely unaware of anything other than Drew facing her on the couch. His back rested against the arm of the sofa and one leg was planted firmly on the ground. May had tangled her bare legs with his, one of them balanced over his knee, which he held in place with his right hand.

The atmosphere of the room in combination with the alcohol in his system made Drew even more stoic than usual. His face was unreadable, so May resorted to deciphering his emotions through his eyes. They were soft and pensive. Observant and comforting. His free hand, which stretched along the back of the couch, absent-mindedly twisted a lock of her hair between his thumb and forefinger. They hadn't spoken in a number of minutes, but it felt like they were in the middle of a conversation.

Each second that passed was spent memorizing him and committing the moment to memory. His thumb moved twice against her thigh.

"I think you're my best friend," May mumbled, her gaze unfaltering.

"What makes you say that?" Drew asked. His thumb continued affectionately brushing the surface of her skin.

May was lost in thought, her gaze bouncing between his eyes. She took a few slow, pensive breaths before looking at his shirt pocket and shrugging. "I love being around you. It just makes me feel… full."

"Of what?" he asked.

"Of everything."

Drew paused before lifting her thigh up slightly to reposition it on his knee. His thumb stayed stationary against her leg.

"Like when we're with a bunch of people," May continued, "and I look at you, everything just feels so familiar. And sure. And I feel like we have a secret. But I don't know what it is."

Drew's gaze burned into hers before he looked down at nothing in particular.

"I feel that, too," he said, his thumb moving against her thigh. "But I wouldn't call it being best friends."

"What would you call it?" May asked.

His eyes slowly moved to meet hers, but he said nothing for a couple of seconds. And then:

"Something else."

May's eyes bore into his as words escaped her. The feeling of fullness intensified, and she tried to wrap her mind around what had just happened between them.

They were still once again, slipping back into a conversational silence. Drew's thumb was the only motion that existed between them. She never wanted it to stop. May fell absolute victim to his dragon-like eyes. Though entirely vulnerable, she felt herself null into a weightless security. And she realized why he always seemed to feel like home.

 _I think I love you_ , May thought. _I think that's what it is_.

Drew's eyes searched hers and he blinked slowly, slightly averting his gaze. He breathed deeply before exhaling, his fingers sliding behind the back of her knee absent-mindedly.

"Do you want me to take you home?" he asked.

May watched him in his state of subtle beauty. The shape of his jaw. The slope of his shoulders. The few strands of hair that fell into his face as he looked down at his hand.

"Yeah," she said.

* * *

"You should come in," she said.

"No, no," Drew refused.

He stood outside her door, wondering how many lines they'd crossed in the past couple of hours. If there were still lines to cross. The last thing he wanted was to accidentally do something that pushed May away from him again.

May turned the knob to her front door and opened her apartment to him. "Please? Just for a minute."

Drew didn't reply. He stepped into the entryway, holding the door open with his shoulder. May tossed her keys on the counter and turned around to face him. Drew noticed that her balance was slightly off before she reached out to tug on his arm.

"Just for two minutes, Drew," she said. "Just for three minutes."

He stepped away from the doorway and the front door closed. The apartment was quiet and totally dark, except for the blue glow of the small kitchen nightlight that was plugged in next to the stove.

Drew was unsure of what to feel. His hands hung awkwardly at his sides for what felt like the first time in his life as he stood in her apartment, torn between leaving and keeping her company. He noticed the wear the night had had on her: tousled hair, slightly smeared mascara. Her imperfections made her real and tangible, and he longed to do something. _Anything._

His heart ached in his chest.

"I'm going to leave," Drew said in definitive warning.

He stared into her heated blue eyes briefly before turning his head away. He closed his eyes and immediately felt her slender fingers work their way into the hair at the nape of his neck. His senses instantly tuned into the dainty touches of her fingertips. Drew clenched his jaw and exhaled, feeling his fists clench as well.

"May," he pleaded softly, as she turned his head gently to face her.

Drew refused to open his eyes, but could physically feel how close her face was to his. He felt her remove her hand before immediately gliding it up the back of his head and grabbing a handful of hair.

 _Fuck._

He could hear himself exhaling through his teeth. He could feel his mind melting under her touch. He was instinctually aware of exactly how far away her lips were from his.

It took all of his willpower to stay completely still as she touched his nose with hers. As her delicate fingers tangled themselves into his hair.

He was unravelling incredibly quickly.

"Please, don't," she murmured. He felt her breath against his lips when she popped the 'p'.

Drew opened his eyes slowly, though he left them heavily lidded. He made sure his voice didn't sound as strangled as he felt.

"This really isn't a good idea," he mumbled.

"Please," she said again. He watched as her gaze fell on his lips. "I'm always alone." Her fingers restarted their journey through his hair at the base of his neck. "You have Gary. I don't have anyone."

Drew absorbed her words in an entirely dazed state. Feeling the sensation of her skin against his was absolutely mind-numbing. All he could concentrate on was how no one had ever demolished him so beautifully before. She met his stare and Drew felt her fingers falter slightly before continuing to work his mind into nothing.

"I don't want you to leave, Drew," she said.

The sound of her voice hinted that they'd changed subjects somehow. He searched her eyes for the answer but didn't find it.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his voice low.

May's eyes were so fucking blue that he almost couldn't process the color.

"I don't want you to go," she said softly.

Her fingers paused at the nape of his neck and he felt coherent thoughts leaking back into his mind. She did change the subject. Just slightly.

"Okay," he said. "I won't."

* * *

Drew watched her curved form lie peacefully on the opposite side of the bed, the night covering her like a blanket. Her back faced him, and her body rose and fell softly with each inhale. Each exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

 _Wow_.

He rested on his back, his head facing her, and made an effort to be as far away from her as possible. Though every part of him was itching to touch her skin. Or feel her cool hair against his face.

Inhale. Exhale.

Drew felt vulnerable. Absolutely exposed. Like every subconscious wall he'd built had vanished instantly. No crumbling. Just evaporation. He could feel his mind being soothed by innocent naivety. There was nothing bad in this world. There was no evil outside these four walls.

How could there be. When he was experiencing this. Complete silence. Tinted blue darkness from the light of the moon through the blinded window. And May.

He could barely see her in the darkness, but her beauty left him in pure awe, unable to defend himself.

"Drew," May said softly.

"Yes, May," he answered, just as softly.

Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale.

"Are you still here?" she wondered.

"Yes, May," he confirmed.

"Good," she said quietly.

She inhaled and exhaled deeply, letting slip an airy and elongated "Mmmmm."

 _Wow_.

He was stunned, unable to move. She'd somehow coaxed paralysis into his bones.

He yearned to tell her. _May_ , he would say.

 _I'm so in love with you_.

He yearned to tell her everything.

"Drew," she murmured.

"Yes, May."

There was a long, pregnant pause before she answered him sleepily.

"I love when you say that."

His mind went absolutely numb. He couldn't think of a clever reply that would spark her temper or make her giggle. He couldn't think of anything. He could think of nothing but her.

And he was suddenly speaking. "May—"

"Drew?" she asked softly, effectively cutting off whatever his mouth was going to tell her.

"Yes," he replied instantly.

Inhale. Exhale.

"Drew," she hummed.

Hearing her soft voice murmur his name repeatedly was absolute ecstasy.

"Yes, May," he replied again.

She sighed and rolled onto her back to face him, her movement slurred with sleep. Drew's eyes desperately searched to find hers in the darkness. He felt a stillness in his soul when he did, a silhouette of her wavy hair framing her face.

She said nothing for a few seconds, the room overcome with deafening silence. All he could feel was the weight of his saturated heart in his chest and his paralysis caused by the person laying next to him.

May exhaled audibly before speaking softly.

"I wish you could feel… what I'm feeling right now," she whispered.

Drew stayed entirely still, his face expressionless. He almost couldn't process what her statement implied.

"What are you feeling," he murmured simply.

"I don't know," she said in a breath. "I've never felt this before."

"Then I'm feeling the same thing."

She was quiet. Just breathing steadily. Seemingly just as paralyzed as he was.

"How do you do this to me," she breathed.

Drew could not think of a single coherent thing. Here she was, letting accusations spill from her tired lips when he could barely even speak. His thoughts were wisps of fragmented adorations. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and he could see the curve of her cheek as she faced him. She was etherial. She had to be.

"How do you do it?" she whispered.

He suddenly felt her touch against his arm. Her dainty finger traced its way down to find his thumb. Then, her fingers simultaneously weaved through his. And she slowly rolled over, wrapping his arm around her and forcing him to turn onto his side.

Drew gained control of his arm and took it from her grasp, and used his finger to brush her hair from her neck. He nestled his face there before resting his arm over the dip in her side. His fingers stretched along her stomach, and he listened to the sound of the movement of his hand against the material of her shirt. Drew found her essence buried beneath her perfume and let her scent wash over him. It was so light and flowery and warm. Light a dance of petals. Like a petal dance.

He heard her make that airy sound. The one she used to make when he kissed her.

 _Wow._

He never wanted to experience anything else. He exhaled against her neck and pulled her body closer to his. And he heard that breathy sigh once more.

 _How do you do this to me?_

This is what pure happiness felt like. This is what it felt like to inject euphoria directly into your bloodstream. To feel powerless and absolute all at once. Like nothing else could ever compare. Like nothing else could ever really matter.

* * *

 **What did you think? I would love to know! Please leave me a review with all of your thoughts and feelings.**

 **Don't worry, this isn't the end! We have a few more chapters left. I think.**

 **Thanks again, everyone! I love you all.**

 **x**


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